If Here Comes The Boom released back in the mid 90’s when MMA was in it’s formative years, Kevin James wouldn’t have had to lose any weight at all. Those were the days when Tank Abbott was king, and chubby dudes with double chins, big fists and goatees (and Royce) were the most feared combatant known to man. A 1995 Here Comes The Boom requires Kevin James to grow a goatee – that’s it. Luckily for Kevin James’ health and the health of the sport, athletic superiority now reigns supreme. It’s because of this Kevin James had to hit the pads along with the weight room and his vegetable juicer in a quest to shed his pounds and lose his belly.
In an interview with CNN, this weekend’s star of Here Comes The Boom relays the UFC mandated reality to his movie and how his inspirations and motivations for the movie come from a real place in his life.
“I threw my back out … getting into a town car. That’ll show you the kind of shape I’m in now. How far I’ve let myself go,”
“If I do a movie where I have to have (a son) and it’s a chubby kid, my mother is always like, ‘You were never like that.’ She gets so upset about it,” he said.
While his weight loss was dramatic, he did not elaborate on the exact number of pounds shed. However, to anyone who was a fan of his earlier work, the change is obvious.
“The UFC gave us their blessing to make this movie,” “I had to promise them I’m going to make this thing as realistic as possible and it’s going to be something that they haven’t seen in me before.”
“I want to do movies that I’m proud of where my kids, at some point, can see and I can feel comfortable sitting there watching it with them,” he said. “And just that move people. That make people feel a little bit better about themselves when they leave the theater.”
“I also have teachers that I remember from when I was going to school that have inspired me,” “I’ve also had really crappy teachers, unfortunately, where they don’t really care that much and you think it’s a great time then because you’re in class … but literally there is nothing for you later on down the road. I kind of just wanted to tie these two worlds together.”
“It’s tough,” “because you’re trying to blend a big comedy with inspiration, with heart and realistic fighting. … There are a lot of ingredients in this one.”
“You can watch ‘James Bond’ and enjoy it because it’s something that you would never do,” “I could never be James Bond. And then there are movies where you watch because you’re seeing yourself through the eyes of the character. And I think I’m the latter.”
[Source]
