Sabrina Carver (Detonator)

Trivia
A few months before the filming started, Alexandra Paul had been shooting scenes for a movie called Just the Way You Are (original title: I Won't Dance). Due to production problems shooting for that film had to be postponed for six months. Getting Physical was filmed during that time.

Casting the extremely skinny Paul as an overweight character might appear as a strange choice. However, Alexandra and Kendal had some things in common as both were out of shape and neither knew what a gym was. But when Kendal was chubby and overweight, Alexandra was extremely thin and almost underweight.

Never the less Alexandra was picked from 160 applicants. ''"We all had to audition in leotards," recalls the 20-year-old Paul. "Franco Columbo ['Getting Physical's' technical adviser and former Mr. Olympia] graded us on how much he could build us up. The other girls' upper bodies were too thin, but my back muscles were well-developed because I've always done a lot of swimming," Paul adds. "I had never been a good athlete," says Miss Paul. "I had always been the last person to be picked for a team. They used to call me 'klutz'. But that is why bodybuilding is a good sport for me – you don't have to be coordinated at all."''

Alexandra's thinness caused naturally some problems, like how to make Alexandra appear overweight and how to transform her into a muscular bodybuilder. The first problem was "solved" with Alexandra wearing several layers of bulky sweatshirts at all times during the first part of the movie and making sure her character was shown eating at every opportunity.

The other problem, transforming the skinny Alexandra Paul into a muscular young woman proved to be a herculean task. As an ectomorph Alexandra would have a hard time to build significant muscles. ''"In order to get results very quickly, you have to double up the training program," Columbo says. Women who compete in bodybuilding contests normally train for about a year. Paul had to be ready in six weeks. "Alexandra trained almost to the collapsing point," Columbo continues. "She was exhausted; she was walking like a zombie. In the beginning, she had no muscles. Over a few weeks she lost five pounds of fat and gained eight pounds of muscle."''

The effects of proper workouts surprised Alexandra: ''"My body has changed remarkably in four weeks," Paul said during filming. "I noticed changes after the second workout. I've always been self-conscious about my body. Girls are. When I was 15 I wanted to be thin. I was 25 pounds lighter. Now I think it's better to be'' strong. I feel more aware of and comfortable with my body." After working out with Columbo for seven weeks, Alexandra emerged with muscles from head to toe.

Like Kendall's muscles in the movie, Alexandra's´muscles in real-life caused problems. During filming Alexandra told, "''My boyfriend is very supportive. He thinks I look better. ... and we work out on weights together." But afterwards she revealed that they had broken up because of her newly gained muscles and strength: "He doesn't like the fact that I've gotten this big,"'' Alexandra said in Gadsden Times. "He doesn't like it when people comment that I may be stronger than him, or that I have wider shoulders than he has." The final straw was when "I was using heavier weights than he was."

After the film had been finished Alexandra was thrilled by and admired her new body, "I have hard muscles everywhere! I know it doesn't appeal to everybody, but I like it." Unlike her co-star she intended to continue with bodybuilding, she was "hooked": "Franco is going to give me a training program when the movie is finished. He told me if I work out 30 minutes three days a week, that will be enough to maintain it."

When Getting Physical had been finished the problems with The Way You Are had been solved and Alexandra returned to the French Alps to shoot her remaining scenes. But the problem, according to Paul, was that, in those months between shots, she had changed and changed a lot. She now had muscles. Paul was worried that she would not look like the same person (Bobbie). "I'm supposed to wear skin tight pants, but now they will show all these leg muscles I have. I'm a little worried about that." Even if that didn't turn out to be a problem, Alexandra was worried about what her muscles would do for her career. That was never found out as she did not continue her bodybuilding workouts for long and quickly returned to her more slender, less muscular appearance.