Jennifer Connelly has always been a rather slim woman, but now she has lost another 25 pounds to star in a new film, Shelter, where Connelly plays a homeless woman.
The film is directed by her husband, Paul Bettany. In the film, Connelly plays a homeless drug addict, and recently discussed her extensive research and weight loss. She spoke to ContactMusic.com, saying “There was so much work to do about her (Hannah, the character she will portray in the film) and the circumstances of her life that I knew nothing about.”
Connelly continued: “I had a lot of practical research to do. Slowly, over months, a lost a lot of weight and ultimately lost about 25 pounds. I wanted to be quite comfortable with her and I had no experience using needles, so I spent a lot of time working on that so I could be quite at ease; practicing using the paraphernalia.”
Shelter also stars Anthony Mackie. In the film, Connelly plays Hannah, a homeless woman who falls in love with Mackie’s character while they both live homeless on the streets on New York. The film focuses on their relationship, as well as their pasts and how they arrived at their current dilemma. The film has already been released in Canada at a film festival, and will subsequently be released to a wider audience in the future.
The weight loss is surprising given Connelly’s already thin frame. Jennifer Connelly previously portrayed a drug addict in Darren Aronofsky’s addiction film, Requiem for a Dream, back in 2000. She won an Academy Award for Best Supporting Actress in 2002 for her role in Ron Howard’s A Beautiful Mind.
For their work with the homeless over the years, Jennifer Connelly and her husband, Paul Bettany, will be honored at the 20th Artwalk NY to benefit the Coalition for the Homeless on October 30.