Ashton’s not-too-guarded fitness secrets

Jay Gonzales, one of our reliable sources for how Holly-wood stars train for their roles, sent us details on how Ashton Kutcher prepared physically for his role as Jake Fischer in Touchstone Pictures’ latest thriller The Guardian. While Kutcher is best known for comic flicks, he tries action for the first time with veteran actor Kevin Costner. He plays the role of a former swimming champion who trains under Costner’s character, Ben Randall, at the United States Coast Guard’s aviation survival technician (AST) program.  The story essays the courage and selfless sacrifice of Coast Guard rescue swimmers who risk their lives against the biggest storms and monstrous waves "so that others may live!" 

Farm Boy

Born in Cedar Rapids, Iowa to parents who were factory workers (his father Larry was with General Mills and his mother Diane was with Procter & Gamble), Ashton has an older sister and a fraternal twin brother who has cerebral palsy. Kutcher’s childhood was spent in the rugged outdoors, where he learned carpentry, hay bailing, livestock raising, and other farm chores.   

He was a good student who played in the football team and appeared in school plays. Well-liked and popular, stress from his brother’s condition and his parents’ divorce drove him to a freak involvement in a school burglary in his senior year that led to a three-year probation sentence and 180 hours of community service. This incident led to the loss of his girlfriend, anticipated college scholarship, and his popularity in school and the community. 

He attended University of Iowa where he took up biochemical engineering in his desire to find a cure for his brother’s heart ailment. He became a member of Delta Chi fraternity (Costner is a brod) and was recruited while in school to be part of the "Fresh Faces of Iowa" modeling competition. He won a trip to New York City, where he ended up being a professional fashion model. 

Lights, Camera, Action!

Like Costner, Kutcher saw in the script of The Guardian an unusual opportunity to do something very different from what he was known for. "I was definitely looking to do something that was a total departure from what I’ve done before, and this is definitely that," says Kutcher. "I was also looking for the chance to work with actors who I look up to and who I could learn from. And this film not only offered many opportunities for me to learn and stretch myself, that’s also what it’s about – one generation learning from the one just ahead."

Kutcher is well known for his dim-witted, juvenile characters like Kelso in eight seasons of That ’70s Show.  As to why he suddenly decided to take a mature and serious role, Kutcher points out, "I like doing movies that make me a little uncomfortable.When you’re uncomfortable, you’re growing. I’ve never done anything that required so much physical output and this kind of dramatic output." 

Kevin Costner was another deciding factor for Kutcher.  Kutcher was born in Iowa, the home of the world’s most famous fictional baseball field in Costner’s Field of Dreams. "I grew up drinking from the fountain of Kevin Costner. In Iowa, you’re raised there with the mantra, ‘If you build it, they will come.’ I had a cornfield in my backyard," he enthuses. 

Costner was a real hero to Kutcher as the real coast guards. "It wasn’t difficult to look up to him in the film and secretly watch him as my teacher because he is that in real life to me. It’s a pretty special thing when you get to go to work with one of your heroes," Kutcher explaines. 

Real Coast Guard Training

Kutcher trained for eight months and participated in a week-long boot camp to sample a real Coast Guard training.  "The guys in the Coast Guard are the kind of heroes who don’t talk about themselves.  And I hold very high regard for those kinds of people," he says. 

"If I was going to do a film about rescue swimmers and portray this kind of heroes, I wanted to do them proud.  I definitely didn’t want to have somebody else come in and double for me.  I figured that these guys are saving lives for a living and for me, as an actor, to get into shape and be able to portray them is small potatoes and the least I can do," Kutcher notes. 

With the rest of the cast, Kutcher got into a gut-wrenching, sweat-inducing boot camp that tested his resolve. "The boot camp with the Aviation Survival Technician teachers was an unforgettable experience. I’ve never been yelled at so much by someone I respect so much in my life except maybe my parents. These guys rode us, and they rode us hard!  In the actual A-school style of training, the instructors never ask the students to do anything that they don’t do. So if they yell at you, tell you to get down and do 40 to 50 push-ups, they’ll do them right there with you.  And so you just have the most enormous respect for them," he elaborates. 

Kutcher successfully met all the stringent requirements of a Coast Guard swimmer well before the end of his training, including tests of speed, strength, and endurance.  His instructors noted that he seemed to have what it takes to join their ranks in real life. But the biggest challenge for Kutcher was his lack of comfort in the water. "I don’t really like the water. I mean if I get thrown in a pool, I’m not going to drown, but this is a whole different kind of swimming. The hardest thing for me was simply diving in first thing every morning.  Still, I was just happy to be in a wave tank, and not the open ocean, where if something went awry, they could have pulled me out," Kutcher relates. 

Director Andrew Davis admired Kutcher’s devotion to the role and commitment to training.  "I think he gained 10 or 15 pounds of pure muscle," he quips.

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In the Philippines, The Guardian is distributed by Buena Vista International through Columbia Pictures.  Screening started last Oct. 11.

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  Post me a note at mylene@goldsgym.com.ph.