‘Masters of the Universe’ Star Nicholas Galitzine on Eating Whatever He Wanted to Lose His He-Man Body and Having a ‘Great Time’ Making ‘Red, White & Royal Wedding’

Nicholas Galitzine may have seen all his strict dieting and hard work at the gym pay off to transform into He-Man for “Masters of the Universe,” but he didn’t mind when that training came to an end.

“I had to go into a movie three weeks later where the director said, ‘I need you to not look the way you look right now, so eat what you want, stop weightlifting,’” Galitzine told me at the “Masters of the Universe” premiere Monday night at the TCL Chinese Theatre in Hollywood. “I said, ‘That is music to my ears. I’m not going to do anything for three weeks.’ And I’ll tell you, it’s depressing. It takes so long to put on, [but] it’s so quick to come off.”

So what did his non-training meals look like? “I was like, ‘Macaroni cheese,’ but you don’t even want to know,” Galitzine said. “It was sickening.’”

Director Travis Knight explained why Galitzine was perfect for the part even before seeing the physical transformation. “It’s a very daunting ask to ask any actor and say, ‘Hey, you’re going to be the most powerful man in the universe.’ That means boulder shoulders. That means giant biceps. That means rippling pectorals and six-pack abs. Who wants to embrace that?” he said, laughing. “But my man Nick, he completely embraced what that means. And that meant he had to transform his body. Nick is an extraordinary actor…But no one’s ever really seen him as an action hero.”

He added, “I knew Nick had all the qualities that you needed to bring a character like [He-Man] to life. He has vulnerability, he has charisma, he has charm, he’s very funny and then he had to transform his body.”

When asked about possible “Masters of the Universe” sequels, director Travis Knight insisted, “I think we’re getting a little bit ahead of ourselves because we approach all these things as if we have one chance of telling a story and we put everything we had into it.”

That said, he added, “If the world wants more, we’ve got more stories to tell.”

Arriving at the premiere, Camila Mendes, who plays Teela, looked at her image on one of the giant posters lining the purple carpet. “It’s pretty effing cool,” she said. “I feel like I’m pinching myself. I’m thinking a lot about little Camila tonight, who never imagined. This is such a rare opportunity, I’m just trying to soak it in. I never thought I’d be premiering a massive film at the Chinese Theatre. It’s just so surreal. You never know if these things are going to happen again, so I’m just enjoying it. I’m being present.”

Galitzine only recently saw the “Masters of the Universe” billboards. “I’ve been shooting this tiny little indie movie, and have had no time to myself, and so I haven’t been out and about, and I kind of thought, ‘Oh, well, they must have just not started putting the He-Man posters up,’” he said. “Yeah, cut to me flying into L.A., and I’m like, ‘Oh, this is kind of a little bit overwhelming.’”

Meanwhile, in other Galitzine news, he briefly touched on “Red, White & Royal Wedding,” the much-anticipated sequel to “Red, White & Royal Blue.” Galitzine returns as England’s Prince Henry with Taylor Zakhar Perez reprising his role as the son of the U.S. president (Uma Thurman) and Henry’s boyfriend.

“It’s so rare that you get to return to something, so it felt like a really wholesome experience,” Galitzine said. “You’re getting to work with Taylor and Uma again, and Lena Headey [is] joining us. I had a great time filming it.”

See more photos from the “Masters of the Universe” premiere below.