Mark Ruffalo reveals he wore ‘ass pads’ for nude scene in Poor Things

Speaking to Robert Downey Jr, the actor said he was ‘wearing what the Avengers wear, but underneath my clothes’

Mark Ruffalo has revealed he wore pads and corsets underneath his costume for his forthcoming role as Duncan Wedderburn in Yorgos Lanthimos’ dark comic fantasy Poor Things.

Speaking to Robert Downey Jr as part of Variety’s Actors on Actors series, Ruffalo said: “Do you know I had an ass pad in? My legs were like four inches bigger... [Lanthimos] really wanted the silhouette.”

Ruffalo went on to explain that the Greek filmmaker wanted his character to resemble a bird. “I had this whole built-out chest piece that never made it because it was just too much,” he said.

“But the big ass pads, the leg pads, the thigh pads, the calf pads, those were all playing. So when you look at that and you’re like, ‘Wow, he looks great’ — now you know, I was just wearing what the Avengers wear, but underneath my clothes.”

The pair also discussed Ruffalo’s discomfort shooting the film’s nude scenes. “I was like, ‘Do I have to?’ All I can hear is, ‘Nobody wants to see your old ass anymore. Maybe you shouldn’t be doing movies like that anymore’,” Ruffalo recalled.

“I mean, it’s my least favorite part of it, but I also saw it as an extension of the physical comedy that we were already finding. So it was just another way to tell the story.”

Willem Dafoe and Emma Stone in ‘Poor Things’ (Searchlight Pictures)

Poor Things tells the story of a dead woman, Bella Baxter (Emma Stone), who is brought back to life by a mad scientist who embeds her unborn baby’s brain in her head.

In a four-star review for The Independent from Venice Film Festival, Geoffrey Macnab wrote: “Bella elopes with someone else, however: a seductive cad played by Mark Ruffalo, in fine comic form. Their travels take them to Lisbon, Alexandria and Paris, Bella using the journey to embark on a search for sex and adventure. Each new city is created in fantastical style, with Lanthimos rekindling memories of the work of Wes Anderson, or old Georges Melies silent films at their most artificial.”

He concluded: “It will be intriguing to see whether Poor Things becomes an Oscar contender. It may prove too subversive and oddball for more mainstream tastes, but it’s an exquisitely made film. As for Stone? She gives a wildly inventive star turn.”

Poor Things is scheduled to be released in the United States on 8 December, and in the United Kingdom on 12 January 2024.