Muscular Masters of the Universe star Nicholas Galitzine says looksmaxxing is 'comical'

Nicholas Galitzine may ooze machismo in his upcoming role as the muscle-bound action hero He-Man in Masters of the Universe, but the actor himself thinks the masculinity-obsessed “looksmaxxers” are ridiculous.

In a new interview with Men’s Health to promote the release of the movie on June 5, Galitzine opened up about the strict diet he had to follow to bulk up for the role, why the gender binary doesn’t make sense, and his thoughts on “looksmaxxing,” an internet subculture devoted to going to extreme length to maximize their attractiveness, made popular among young men by controversial influencers like Clavicular.

“I find this looksmaxxing to be a little bit comical,” Galitzine said. “It’s very lacking in self-awareness at times, and there’s humor in it, but we’ve always done something of that iteration. Makeup is as old as time, and I suppose you could say that’s looksmaxxing in some ways. But where it’s going seems completely out of control.”

According to Men’s Health writer Evan Romano, Masters of the Universe may be based on the original He-Man cartoon which represented the “peak of what the culture considered the masculine ideal: broad shoulders, massive muscles, weekly heroics,” but in the end it’s more like Barbie than a traditional action-hero blockbuster.

Men's Health cover with Nicholas Galitzine.

Sandro Baebler for Men’s Health

And the star himself has no problem critiquing gender roles and the arbitrary binary society is so focused on.

“I mean, I had fantastic male role models, really, in my father and my uncles, my grandfather, but I grew up around a lot of amazing women as well,” he said. “And so these concepts of masculinity, femininity seem rudimentary.… How something as complex as humanity can be so binary is almost laughable. I really, truly believe this guy that I’m playing embodies the best of both worlds.”

Galitzine also hopes that young men will be inspired by seeing hyper-masculine looking men on screen expressing their emotions.

“For me, it’s not really a conversation that needs to be had; it’s just a reality,” Galitzine continued. “We are many, many things, and we should embrace those many, many things.… This notion of being able to talk about how we feel is obviously central to our movie, but something hopefully the movie can really perpetuate in other young men.”

Masters of the Universe is in theaters now.