Patrick Wilson‘s muscles are breaking the Internet once again. The 52-year-old, who stars in Apple TV’s “Cape Fear” series, is seen performing a particularly strenuous weightlifting workout in a scene that has racked up over 100,000 likes on Instagram alone. Many fans have commented on Wilson’s intense scene, impressed not only by the actor’s form but also by the fact that he performed the stunt himself with real weights.
“SOMEONE WHO ACTUALLY LIFTS WEIGHTS PORTRAYING WEIGHTLIFTING CORRECTLY ON A TV SHOW. be still my soul,” said one commenter. Another wrote, “Um, this might be the best lifting form I’ve ever seen from an actor.” Even the official account of the leading CrossFit competition brand, CrossFit Games, commented, “solid reps,” followed by a fire emoji.
Patrick Wilson’s ‘Cape Fear’ Character Prep
During the Los Angeles premiere of “Cape Fear” on June 2, Wilson gave “USA Today” insight into his thought process for the weightlifting scene. “It’s not that much really. I think it was maybe 115, maybe? I’m not sure,” recalled Wilson regarding the weight he used.
He continued, “I wanted it to be real. They had fake plates, actually. But you’d look silly to do it with fake plates. It should be straining. That was kind of the point of the scene. Everybody always does pushups or pullups. I was talking to the director, and I said, ‘You know, I used to do a lot of CrossFit. I work out a lot.’ So I said we could do something different… I could do a bunch of power cleans. So I sent him videos of me lifting, and they were like, ‘That’s cool!’ We actually just came up with that.”
Additonally, the “Aquaman” star told “PEOPLE” the reason behind his “Cape Fear” attorney character’s muscular physique, stating he wanted to present himself as the antithesis of co-star Javier Bardem’s Max Cady. Wilson explained, “As loose and free and comfortable as Max seemed to be in his own skin, I wanted to go the opposite way just to give a good balance to that. So I embraced the physicality, the sort of tucked-in, tight shirt of it all. In this genre, really, you need both the stakes emotionally, but you also need the sort of physical stakes.”
Patrick Wilson’s Love of Fitness, Especially HYROX
Wilson certainly possesses the pedigree to pull off any weightlifting scene, especially his now-viral one in “Cape Fear.” On June 9, the Tony-winning producer spoke on “TODAY” about his passion for fitness and his experience competing in HYROX races as a HYROX athlete. “It’s awesome. You’re running a thousand meters, and in between, you’re going to the skier, the rower, pushing sleds, pulling sleds, carries, burpees, lunges, and wall balls. Just keeps me driven,” he said. Wilson also confirmed on the long-running morning show that the weights shown in his now-famous “Cape Fear” weightlifting scene are indeed “real.”
