Inspired by a pal who died of cancer, 50 Cent penned and stars in Things Fall Apart, a flick about a football player stricken with the disease.

To play this role, 50 Cent dropped 54 pounds on a liquid diet and three-hour-a-day treadmill stints, he went from 214 pounds to a sickly 160 pounds.


It’s not unusual for actors to lose extreme weight for movie parts. Matt Damon got bony for Courage Under Fire. Will Smith shrunk for Seven Pounds, and Christian Bale got frail for The Machinist. But those were all for major releases. There’s no word yet on if this movie will hit theaters or not.

Maybe this will be 50′s breakout role. As an actor, 50 Cent has only starred in a handful of major releases and straight-to-DVD castoffs. His film debut came in 2005 with the semi-autobiographical Get Rich or Die Tryin’, and in 2008 he acted alongside Robert De Niro and Al Pacino in the commercial flop Righteous Kill.

50′s currently out on his national Invitation tour and back in fighting shape. On his website, a recent picture shows a healthier 50 rapping with his G-Unit mates Lloyd Banks and Tony Yayo.