It takes a lot of work to hold the title of Sexiest Man Alive for a whole year – just ask Paul Rudd. The 53-year-old star of Ant–Man and the Wasp: Quantumania, who received the title in 2021, was delighted to hand it off to his 41-year-old Avengers co-star Chris Evans last November.
Additionally, Rudd, who will be on the cover of PEOPLE’s issue due out on February 15, says, “You know, I have a fantasy football thread and Chris is one of the teams. So there was some back and forth. There might even be a couple of Sexy Men in that football squad. Just over the text chain, [there was] a congratulations and passing of the torch.”
Rudd also felt responsible to impart some of his hard-earned wisdom to Evans to best prepare him for the coming year.
“Oh, yeah. I absolutely said, ‘Look, here’s the deal, Chris. This comes with a lot of responsibility,'” comments the actor. “‘If you want to sit down and maybe have like, we’ll probably need to spend the day, it’s going to take hours, because there’s a lot you have to live up to and there’s a lot expected of you. And if you want to have like a real strategy session or what it’s been like and what’s required, I’m available.’ And I gave him a series of days.”
Then, Rudd grins and says, “Yeah, he’s never returned one text. [But he’s] absolutely busy. He’s the Sexiest Man Alive. There are no days off for that.”
Additional details
According to Paul Rudd, who is the March 2023 cover star for Men’s Health, getting in shape for Ant–Man and the Wasp: Quantumania was “so much harder.”
“I worked really hard to get back into shape for Quantumania, and I realized, ‘Oh my God, this is so much harder than it was [for the last Ant-Man project],'” he remarked. “I had fallen off more than I had in the past. All of a sudden my clothes fit tight. And I thought, ‘God, this sucks. I can’t even wear these pants.'”
He continued, “So I’d say to myself, ‘Well, I might as well just eat some of these cookies.’ I was irritable and self-conscious. I just wasn’t in a good mood. I really beat myself up.”
Moreover, Rudd attributed reaching his ideal body shape to his tenacity and work ethic.
“I can be a hyper-focused person if I have a goal. If I’m doing one of these movies and I know that in four months I have to do a shirtless scene, I’m pretty dialed in,” he stated. “I also try and find the happy medium. I could work out hard and eat perfectly and I’ll still look worse than most of the other Avengers.”
Lastly, the movie Ant–Man and the Wasp: Quantumania will be released on February 17.
