Robert De Niro's Oscar-winning role as boxer Jake LaMotta in Martin Scorsese's 1980 film Raging Bull remains notable for the extreme physical transformation it demanded, which the actor later described as "pure drudgery". Known for his method approach, De Niro had trained intensively to portray LaMotta's fighting prime, but the film's second half required him to convincingly show the boxer's decline into an overweight, washed-up figure, meaning production had to accommodate a drastic change in his body.

To achieve this, filming was halted for nearly four months, during which the crew continued to be paid while De Niro travelled through Italy and France deliberately overeating pasta, cheesecake and milkshakes rather than training. His weight rose to around 215 pounds, causing genuine health problems, including breathing difficulties, which prompted Scorsese to speed up the remaining shoot in December 1979. De Niro later recalled in a 2013 CBS interview that the initial weight gain was enjoyable but the process quickly became gruelling, and the physical toll he endured became a recurring talking point in interviews throughout his career.