Jennifer Connelly Shed 25 Pounds For Husband's 'Shelter'
News
oi-IANS
By Ians English
Actress
Jennifer
Connelly
lost
25
pounds
to
play
a
homeless
woman
in
her
husband
Paul
Bettany's
directorial
debut
"Shelter".
The
"Noah" star
not
only
researched
to
look
convincing
as
Hannah
in
the
film,
she
also
learned
how
to
use
needles
and
drug
paraphernalia
for
the
role.
"There
was
so
much
to
work
to
do
about
her
(Hannah)
and
the
circumstances
of
her
life
that
I
knew
nothing
about.
I
had
a
lot
of
practical
research
to
do.
Slowly,
over
months,
I
lost
a
lot
of
weight
and
ultimately
lost
about
25pounds," she
was
quoted
as
saying.
"I
wanted
to
be
quite
comfortable
with
her
and
I
had
no
experience
of
using
needles,
so
I
spent
a
lot
of
time
working
on
that
so
I
could
be
quite
at
ease;
practising
using
the
paraphernalia,"
she
added.
She
said
Coalition
for
the
Homeless
in
New
York
City
and
Lower
East
Side
Home
Reduction
Center
were
very
helpful.
"Also,
my
character
is
an
intravenous
drug
user,
so
I
spent
a
lot
of
time
with
people
who
are
currently
struggling
with
addiction,
with
doctors
who
are
experts
on
addiction
and
some
recovered
addicts
who
shared
their
stories
with
me
and
worked
with
me
closely
on
the
script,"
she
said.
But
her
research
was
also
distressing,
because
she
came
face
to
face
with
the
shocking
homeless
statistics.
"The
sheer
numbers
are
quite
striking.
For
me
it
was
quite
revelatory
to
realise
how
many
children
are
homeless
in
New
York
-
56,000
people
each
night
in
New
York
City
are
in
shelters
alone.
So
those
numbers
are
quite
staggering
and
that
doesn't
count
for
people
who
are
sleeping
rough,
sleeping
in
the
streets
and
not
in
shelters,"
she
said.