Did Kevin Spacey really get in shape for the movie American Beauty?

Answer 1

I never read of that and actually he didn't look big later in the movie after the training scenes. You maybe thought that, when Mena Suvari touches his biceps and asks him, if he did a workout, but I have to say, that Mena is a very small person and has small hands, so his arms look bigger aside her small hands. Spacey maybe showed a big stomach when he watches the himself in a reflective window in one scene, but I have a muscular friend who can pull out his stomach and he looks than fat, even though he has a six pack. You can always pull out your stomach, even when you're not fat. And remember Spacey's previous film "the Negotiator" from 1998, where he looked much more muscular than in American Beauty from 1999. So I don't think that he got in shape for the role.