Orlando Bloom’s Drastic Weight Loss for The Cut ‘Freaked Out’ Katy Perry: ‘I Thought I Was Gonna Die’ (Exclusive)

Orlando Bloom is opening up about his “taxing” new movie role — and what fiancée Katy Perry thought about it. 

Seeing The Cut, Perry “just was freaked out,” Bloom told PEOPLE on Friday, Sept. 6 following the movie’s Toronto International Film Festival premiere the day prior. “She watched it and was like, ‘I need a stiff drink.’”

Bloom, 47, stars in the new Sean Ellis-directed film as an unnamed boxer who must drop a significant amount of weight to compete. In an official synopsis, the character is described as “a retired fighter obsessed with getting back in the ring — even if it costs him his life.”

“I was very hangry,” quipped Bloom of his weight loss. “The last three weeks in London, before we started filming, were just tuna and cucumber.” A nutritionist working on the movie, he said, “had me on a strict regime to tear me down, so that we started the film at my lightest weight. And then I put on weight as we filmed.”

Perry, 39, cried upon seeing the drama premiere, he said. “She was really moved. She knew what it took.” At one point during filming and coming home to his family, Bloom recalled, “I literally thought I was gonna die.”

Bloom and the “Woman’s World” singer share daughter Daisy Dove, whom they welcomed in 2020. The English actor also shares son Flynn Christopher Blanchard Copeland with his ex-wife Miranda Kerr.

“She was there throughout, with the kids and stuff,” said Bloom of his fiancée. “It's hard for your family.”

Caitriona Balfe, who costars in The Cut as the wife and trainer of Bloom’s character, agreed. “You can do stuff like that when you're on your own, it's one thing about being single. We were all younger before we had families [and] you can kind of throw yourself into something. But when you have to come home, and you have to be a parent.”

Bloom’s face was “gaunt” just before filming began, added Balfe, 44. “The transformation was shocking… I was like, ‘You look like a raisin.’” 

Costar John Turturro, who plays another trainer for Bloom's protagonist, joked to PEOPLE that money was “the only reason [Bloom] put himself through this.” 

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Turturro, 67, is no stranger to dramatic physical changes for his acting roles, from gaining weight for 1994 movie Quiz Show to losing it for 1997 movie The Truce. “Getting fat for a movie, that made me sick,” said the Severance star. “On Quiz Show I gained a lot of weight, and I got sick. I got shingles. And it was horrible.”

“I don't think I've ever put my health at risk” for a role, said Balfe. “I think sometimes I've worked f---ing 90 hours a week and you don't sleep, which is tough.”

The Cut, with a screenplay by Justin Bull and story by Mark Lane, does not yet have a distributor or release date.