![\"He-Man\"](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/1b071af0-19e7-4766-a040-a5271cbc1b89.png?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"He-Man\\"")
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DESPITE THE OVERSATURATION <\/strong>of the superhero genre, He-Man does feel somewhat lost to the sands of time\u2014stuck, for the moment, as a relic of the \u201980s.<\/p>\nHe-Man\u2019s origin story (in the newest version) is no more ridiculous than any other superhero\u2019s. Prince Adam, our hero, comes from a faraway land called Eternia. His parents are King Randor and Queen Marlena of Eternia, and Adam struggles to live up to their expectations\u2014in particular, the lofty ones of his royal father. Vitally, there\u2019s something called Castle Grayskull, a fortress that houses the aptly named Sword of Power. This sword grants whoever wields it the universe\u2019s ultimate strength after they say a simple incantation: \u201cBy the power of Grayskull,\u201d to which Adam, when chosen as the champion, adds, \u201cI have the power!\u201d The two lines give him both a makeover into the hero known as He-Man and a signature catchphrase for the ages.<\/p>\n
Galitzine, who was born in 1994, wasn\u2019t around for the Masters of the Universe <\/em>franchise at the peak of its powers (which included a Dolph Lundgren\u2013led film in 1987). But when he read the script for the latest take, he was sold.<\/p>\n\n
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![\"HE-MAN\"](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/9ec07c25-b22c-4f8b-96df-e338330b5244.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"HE-MAN\\"")
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Amazon MGM Studios<\/span><\/figcaption>Galitzine, post-He-Man transformation, in Masters of the Universe.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHe\u2019d been working as an actor since 2014 and started landing larger roles in the 2020s (Netflix\u2019s Purple Hearts<\/em>, Prime Video\u2019s Red, White & Royal Blue<\/em>). Then he flexed his comedy muscles in 2023\u2019s Bottoms <\/em>as a dickhead football jock and romanced Anne Hathaway in the 2024 rom-com The Idea of You<\/em>. But these projects largely leaned romance and drama. They\u2019re decidedly not <\/em>in the same genre as a Masters of the Universe<\/em>, and, for Galitzine, that\u2019s exactly the point.<\/p>\n\u201cI\u2019m not someone who necessarily just wants to make art house movies all the time, but I need it to feel like there\u2019s some sort of nuance, or multifacetedness, or moral gray, or something very human that I can dive into if it\u2019s going to have such public appeal and be such a big studio machine,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
Masters <\/em>had all of that: humor, poignancy, emotion, and a ton<\/em> of action. \u201cI really, truly felt like I fully understood who this man was,\u201d Galitzine says. And so he told his team that he was really interested. Eventually, a make-or-break meeting came with director Travis Knight.<\/p>\n\n
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![\"Two](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/eb6e8bd9-b86a-48d9-bcc1-b4b85d22485d.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;0xw,0xh&resize=980:*\" "\\"Two")
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Amazon MGM Studios<\/span><\/figcaption>Galitzine, right, with Taylor Zakhar Perez in Red, White & Royal Blue.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n
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![\"Bottoms\"](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/49ffcfab-ceb3-4393-8729-76c3dc1d1ba5.jpg?crop=0.624xw:1xh;0.188xw,0xh&resize=980:*\" "\\"Bottoms\\"")
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Alamy<\/span><\/figcaption>Galitzine played a very dumb jock in Bottoms<\/em>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\u201cWhen I first met with Nick, he completely sold me,\u201d Knight says. \u201cI was absolutely besotted with him. He\u2019s so completely charming. He\u2019s warm, he\u2019s funny, he\u2019s sweet, and he\u2019s got a big heart\u2014and that was the key thing. That\u2019s what I wanted Adam to be. Now, the missing ingredient was that he\u2019d never played an action hero before. He\u2019d never been He-Man. <\/em>And so that was something he needed to do. But I knew he could do it.\u201d<\/p>\nOnce Galitzine received the official offer to lead Masters of the Universe<\/em>, he knew the tasks at hand. While researching everything that had ever been written or drawn about He-Man, he\u2019d also have to completely transform his body.<\/p>\n\n
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AT NO POINT<\/strong> does Galitzine look more annoyed than when he has to think about what<\/em>, exactly, he had to eat during his Masters of the Universe<\/em> transformation, which took him from around 176 pounds all the way up to 231, before the cut brought him back down to around 200 pounds.<\/p>\nHis eyes get really big. He breathes out for a few seconds. \u201cI mean, truthfully, it was a lot of the typical stuff: a lot of rice, a lot of chicken\u2014not just chicken, but beef and lamb,\u201d he explains. \u201cI mean, there were about six meals a day. I remember it being 10 p.m. and getting a text from my trainer being like, \u2018You eating your sixth meal yet?\u2019 And you\u2019re full, and you\u2019re looking at this big pot of rice and protein. You just feel your stomach expanding week on week.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galitzine ingested as many as 5,000 calories a day during his bulking period, while also fitting in three-hour weightlifting sessions and special training for as many of the movie\u2019s stunts as he could possibly do himself. He\u2019d been very fit before, in his rugby days, but never packed on that kind of size in four to five months of prep time.<\/p>\n
The cut was even harder. His calories went down to roughly 1,900 per day, paired with weight training, an incline treadmill for hours on end, and more stunts. His \u201ctreat\u201d? Zero-calorie soda. \u201cHaving my Coke Zero at lunchtime, I was like, Oh my God, yes<\/em>,\u201d he says.<\/em><\/p>\nKnight credits the hard work that Galitzine put in before the cameras even started rolling, particularly in the face of other options that are more prevalent in the industry. \u201cThe thing these guys have got to go through\u2014and there are shortcuts, which we won\u2019t speak of<\/em>, that I know that some actors have used to get there. We were not going to do that,\u201d he says. \u201cI did not want this man to destroy his body for the sake of the movie. So he did it the right way, and he did it the hard way.\u201d<\/p>\nThe body changes were something Galitzine had never experienced before. He remembers a moment during the peak of his bulk when he had to do an event for Emporio Armani and was out in public looking like a person even he didn\u2019t recognize as himself. \u201cThis notion of being perceived in a state that didn\u2019t feel like me was really, really terrifying,\u201d he says.<\/p>\n
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\u201cI find this LOOKSMAXXING to be a little bit comical. It’s very LACKING IN SELF-AWARENESS at times, and there\u2019s HUMOR in it, but we’ve always done something of that iteration… but where it’s going seems completely OUT OF CONTROL.\u201d<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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When I see Galitzine a few days later, at the photo shoot for this story, I have the same reaction that so many men have when they see someone looking absolutely ripped: Man, I\u2019ve got to get into better shape<\/em>. Drawing attention to himself is not something in Galitzine\u2019s nature; he walks without any pretense and likes to lay as low as an ascending movie star possibly can. He\u2019s not someone to yell or shout or make a big show of anything. But when he\u2019s exercising his arms and flexing the same triceps I\u2019ve now seen him use to punch Skeletor in the face, it\u2019s kind of hard to look away. My reaction isn\u2019t far off from how many felt seeing Galitzine for the first time. Camila Mendes, who plays Adam\u2019s childhood friend and fellow warrior Teela in Masters<\/em>, trained with him for a bit in Los Angeles. When production began in London, she was \u201cstunned,\u201d she says. \u201cHe was huge. I\u2019m like, \u2018This is not the Nick I met.\u2019 It was truly unbelievable.\u201d<\/p>\nBut then I come to my senses just a bit; he\u2019s still literally He-Man. <\/em>And even Galitzine recognizes that what he\u2019s done is out of the ordinary: \u201cA lot of people think this is quite attainable, but it was a full-time job for me.\u201d<\/p>\nDespite his superhuman physique, Galitzine has nicest-guy-in-the-room energy. He\u2019ll remember specific points of previous conversations. He\u2019ll laugh\u2014or at least chuckle\u2014at all your stabs at humor. He\u2019ll talk some shit about social media influencers who probably deserve it. At six feet tall and with his still-very-ripped physique, Galitzine is probably going to be the largest person physically in most rooms. Again: He\u2019s literally He-Man.<\/em> But his physicality isn\u2019t threatening. He feels more like a dude you just played against in a game of pickup basketball and are heading out to grab a beer and some wings with. (He is, coincidentally, headed to a taping of Hot Ones <\/em>after we wrap things up.)<\/p>\n\n
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![\"Nicholas](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/2a2384ea-657e-4bf9-a3ce-3933a53a9e70.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=2048:*\" "\\"Nicholas")
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Sandro Baebler<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nAll of that hard work he put in, however, paid off. Because there\u2019s the moment in the film\u2014you already know the one\u2014when he first picks up the Sword of Power, first says those words, and first goes from Prince Adam to the all-mighty He-Man. When that sequence, which comes about halfway through the film, was shot, it was a major day on set. \u201cI don\u2019t know if it\u2019s as iconic as \u2018The name\u2019s Bond. James Bond.\u2019 But it\u2019s up there in terms of you associate that line with the character<\/em>,\u201d Galitzine says. \u201cAnd so people are expecting something from you.\u201d<\/p>\nOn the day, on the biggest set the production had built, Galitzine recalls more than 300 crew members gathered to see the scene come to life. Knowing its importance, as the culmination of what Adam has spent basically his entire life searching for, and the emotion that comes with it, Galitzine knew it had to be special. He knew he had to get it right. He says he didn\u2019t want the line overly prepared, because he wanted to feel the deep emotion the very first time he said it. With Knight\u2019s approval, rehearsal was kept to a minimum.<\/p>\n
Then the cameras rolled and Galitzine said it. By the power of Grayskull, I have the power! <\/em>The skies open. A blasting light turns Adam into He-Man, revealing not only the powerful sword but that ripped, superhuman body. Epic, by all accounts\u2014but Galitzine says he thought he blew it.<\/p>\n\n
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![\"He-Man](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/0cb2bbf1-a7cf-4e46-9a08-44f202e13604.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"He-Man")
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Amazon MGM Studios<\/span><\/figcaption>Galatzine holding the Sword of Power in Masters of the Universe.<\/em><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nHe says Knight \u201ccame out from behind his monitor, and I\u2019m going, \u2018Oh, fuck it. Here we go. I\u2019m getting fired.\u2019 But we just shared a really beautiful embrace.\u201d And, as Knight tells it, the payoff ran deep. As a lifelong Masters <\/em>fan, the director was already excited just to see weird characters like Ram-Man, Fisto, and Skeletor in live action\u2014let alone in a movie he<\/em> was directing. But seeing the He-Man incantation and transformation took things to a different level. \u201cI will admit that I welled up a little bit in that moment,\u201d he says. \u201cI had chills, the hairs stood up on the back of my neck, and there were tears stinging my eyes, because I was just so moved by the whole experience.\u201d<\/p>\nIt\u2019s a moment that feels earned, because we\u2019ve just spent the first half of the movie watching Adam not as the kind of fast-talking, quippy hero that\u2019s become common in the last 20 years of action-adventure films, but as an earnest, humble, normal guy. The Adam we meet isn\u2019t the coolest guy in town\u2014he\u2019s working that boring job, living with a roommate, and going on failed Hinge dates. Because we meet Adam as a kid who can\u2019t figure out how to earn his dad\u2019s respect and we follow him into an adulthood filled with relative disappointment, we\u2019re on his side, since, hey, he\u2019s a nice guy. He\u2019s not entitled, even though he literally comes from royalty. He\u2019s not cocky, even though he\u2019s big, and tall, and handsome. He\u2019s just a guy trying to make it through the hand he\u2019s been dealt.<\/p>\n
The way Masters <\/em>owns its earnest nature is also true when it comes to the camp at the core of its story and characters, too. It\u2019s a movie fully aware of how silly some of this is, with characters and performers who seem to understand just that.<\/p>\n\n
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![\"Nicholas](\"https:\/\/hips.hearstapps.com\/hmg-prod\/images\/766213fe-baf3-4bbd-8395-fd6d016285bd.jpg?crop=1xw:1xh;center,top&resize=980:*\" "\\"Nicholas")
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Sandro Baebler<\/span><\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\nIn many ways, the explosive, exciting energy behind Masters <\/em>can be seen as a course correction for a world that\u2019s lost its willingness to sit with something just a little goofy and fun. \u201cI worry that sometimes we\u2019ve lost this real sense of sincerity in these worlds,\u201d Galitzine says. \u201cI think in keeping with the lack of color and vibrancy in a lot of these movies in recent times, we\u2019ve lost the vibrancy of performance. Yes, this is honest, and sincere, and very silly, but we can really enjoy it. We obviously still poke fun at ourselves in a way, but there\u2019s nothing embarrassed about it.\u201d<\/p>\nWhich is to say that humor does play a large role in the movie itself and what it\u2019s bringing to the table. For all the jokes about funny names and funny powers and big men with funny haircuts and pink button-down shirts, there\u2019s a general self-awareness\u2014something that seems to address where men aren\u2019t right now.<\/p>\n
During the franchise\u2019s original \u201980s run, He-Man\u2019s aesthetic signified the peak of what the culture considered the masculine ideal: broad shoulders, massive muscles, weekly heroics. Even with his silly little haircut, he represented what many men thought they needed to be.<\/p>\n
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\u201cThe thing these guys HAVE GOT TO GO THROUGH\u2014and there are shortcuts, which we won\u2019t speak of, that I know that some actors have used to get there. We were NOT GOING TO DO THAT. I did not want this man to DESTROY HIS BODY for the sake of the movie. So, he did it the RIGHT WAY, and he did it the HARD WAY.\u201d \u2014 Travis Knight<\/p><\/blockquote>\n
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The actual text suggested something deeper. \u201cEven though he looks like your classic action hero with all those muscles, he was never a guy who would throw a punch at the beginning,\u201d Knight says, explaining the character\u2019s allure for him. \u201cHe was always someone who was looking for common ground, who spoke of empathy and kindness and friendship. And so, I remember as a kid, it was seismic to discover that one could be both strong <\/em>and decent. <\/em>It became something to aspire to.\u201d<\/p>\nThe new movie recognizes this, not treating Adam\u2019s muscle mass as an object of worship but as just one part of what makes him who he is. This is best exemplified during a stretch of the film when we see Adam\u2019s life on earth after he\u2019s been hidden away from Eternia. He\u2019s not greased up in a sleeveless shirt or mogging for a social media post,<\/em> but wearing that same pink button-down with a white undershirt beneath it and working an office job in human resources.<\/p>\n\u201cI find this looksmaxxing to be a little bit comical,\u201d Galitzine says. \u201cIt\u2019s very lacking in self-awareness at times, and there\u2019s humor in it, but we\u2019ve always done something of that iteration. Makeup is as old as time, and I suppose you could say that\u2019s looksmaxxing in some ways. But where it\u2019s going seems completely out of control.\u201d<\/p>\n
Galitzine says he doesn\u2019t really see these kinds of conversations about masculinity and its binary nature\u2014the expectations, the pressure, and everything that comes with it\u2014as necessary at all<\/em>. In fact, he feels a little funny talking about it, because it makes him think back to his teenage days as an athlete and rugby player.<\/p>\n