Alexander Skarsgård 'Tarzan' Workout: Here's What the Actor Did to Get Ripped

Swedish actor Alexander Skarsgård will play Tarzan in the anticipated Legend of Tarzan movie, opposite actress Margot Robbie as Jane — and he looks ripped AF, launching at a giant gorilla in the trailer. So how did Skarsgård transform from average-sized 39-year-old Swedish man to ruler of the apes and king of the jungle? With a strictly regulated eating and exercise regimen.

"A lot of chicken cutlets and crunches," Skarsgård told E! Online. "I obviously had a very, very good trainer. I basically had him and a nutritionist. I've never done anything like this before, this extreme."

Read more: Jennifer Lawrence Has a Fitness Regimen We Can All Get Behind

The actor was apprehensive at first. "I was just really nervous. It was a big challenge and I didn't know how my body would respond to the training and diet."

Looks like his body responded relatively well:

His diet was so strict that Skarsgård cried when his nutritionist let him cheat. "He was like, 'Alex, let's go for lunch,' and we went to this Italian restaurant in Notting Hill and sat down and he was like, 'order what you want," Skarsgård told E! Online. "I started crying. He was like, 'Have pasta,' and I had it and then he was like, 'Are you still hungry?' I was like, 'Yeah!' He was like, 'Have a pizza then, have some tiramisu.' It was the best meal of my life."

Watch Skarsgård in action in the two-minute teaser: