Steve Carell ate frozen pizza for movie role

Actor Steve Carell scoffed frozen pizzas to pile on the pounds for his new role in The Big Short.

The normally slimline actor enjoyed gorging on junk food in order to gain weight, and he even sucked on frozen slices of pizza in a bid to bulk up for his role as a money manager.

However, Carell soon discovered he hated being fat and could not get used to walking the streets with an expanded waistline.

"I put on 25 pounds to play the role," Steve tells U.K. chat show host Jonathan Ross. "The director asked me to do it... I ate a lot of deep-dish pizza... It became my best friend, you could just suck on a frozen piece of pizza and gain the calories that way, it was a horrifyingly wonderful experience. I actually loved it!

"I showed up on set the first day and it's the first time I've ever gotten a compliment off someone saying 'Wow you're so fat, good for you!' I was happy but at the same time, 'What?' It's an odd compliment to receive, 'You look horrible!'

"I didn't enjoy the upholstered feeling so much, I enjoyed the trip to the upholstery shop but no, to walk around like that when you're used to being a certain weight and then you're a different weight for a few months, it really, well it also informed the character too because he's a very irascible guy... It was all bad, I wouldn't recommend it."

Steve's appearance on The Jonathan Ross Show is due to air in the U.K. on Saturday (09Jan15).