"I spend a lot of time in the gym watching others trying to get lean and muscular.
Months go by and they don't physically change that's because their overall program is not as efficient as it could be.
Reality is that everyone doesn't understand diets are 90% of the answer to "Get me 6 pack abs"!

Action movie actor's are becoming more like athletes these days.

They only have a small amount of time to get fit for their roles so their exercise and nutritional needs have to be exact and efficient as possible.
We can learn a lot from routines and diet programs used in the motion picture business.
We could incorporate the same ideas into our dietary habits which guarantees meeting our physical goals.
Here I have listed a few of well known Hollywood diets that actors would follow; (1) The Prince of Persia Diet to play the lead role in a swords-and-sandals action movie.
A typical daily nutritional plan that packs muscle whilst keeping lean.

• 4.
  45am Pre-workout snack:- Espresso and banana ( a banana would kick start his metabolism and the caffeine provided an energizing boost)
• 7am Post-workout breakfast:- Egg white omelet on rye bread (after a hard workout you would need to feed the muscles with protein to help the rebuilding process)
• 9am Early morning snack:- Protein shake ( calorie and protein dense to help synthesize the muscle repair)
• 11am Mid-morning snack:- Apple or banana and handful of almonds and raisins (natural sugars and good fats to keep the energy up with plenty of fibre)
• 1pm Lunch:- Two chicken breasts with a huge salad of avocado, broccoli and other dark green leaves and vegetables (a very lean protein meal with good fats, basic carbohydrates)
• 3pm Mid-afternoon snack:- Protein shake ( ensuring the muscles have every chance to build)
• 7pm Dinner:- Steak with steamed veg or grilled chicken with couscous (protein with fats to ensure testosterone levels are high for the next days session)

Eating little but often which is the key to building muscle and staying lean.

Notice how most of the food intake is over by 3pm.
I would get hungry so choose snacks wisely.
Lots of salads, vegetables and lean meat to keep his blood sugar levels stable throughout the day.
A good formula for building muscle is to eat around 2g of protein per kilogram of bodyweight, and drink lots of water throughout the day.
(2) The Wolverine Diet using this diet would provide quite an impact on the big screen.
For an over 40 male this makes putting on muscles look all too easy.

• Eating protein from natural, unprocessed sources where possible (natural real food is unbeatable for growth).
  
• Eat six small meals a day rather than three large ones (maintain blood sugar levels and keep the metabolism firing).
  
• Drink mainly water (you can not build muscles if you are dehydrated).
  
• Avoid all processed foods, and that includes anything that says "99 per cent fat-free" or similar (processed items simply adds to storing belly fat).
  
• The need for good-quality protein either side of a hard workout is also a priority.
  Use a supplement if needed like a protein powder.
  (its easy if you are short on time).
  
• Having plenty of amino acids before training and immediately after, and have a slow-acting protein at night-time, such as cottage cheese (Cottage cheese low fat is a good low calorie protein food to keep you from getting hungry).
  

(3) Bond James Bond Diet fabulous for beach scenes.
Eat 3 Meals Per Day and 2 Snacks This diet is strict but flexible.
No refined carbs after 2pm (simple sugars).
Don't eat any starchy carbs after 5 pm (potatoes, bread, rice, etc).
Pieces of fruit and drink 2 liters of water each day.
It was important that having a post workout snack after every workout.
Drinking Alcohol was allowed (James Bond 007 loves a martini shaken but not stirred: I prefer straight white spirits like Vodka and I don't use mixers or low sugar full strength beer like Kilkenny Irish beer).
This makes the diet plan easier to follow, because it is realistic.
A Typical Day on This Diet

• Breakfast: 2 Poached Eggs and 2 pieces of Toast (Protein and fats to starts the day with some carbohydrate make sure its a grain based bread)
• Snack: Protein Shake -or- fruits and Nuts (Fruit and Nuts is a better choice than a shake unless you are really short on time)
• Lunch: Meat or Fish with small amount of Brown Rice -or- Baked Potato (Good proteins and fats which would really fill you up some carbs to provide energy for the afternoon)
• Snack: Protein Shake -or- Yogurt with some Nuts (Live bacteria in Yogurt helps digestion and protects against other harmful bacteria)
• Dinner: Meat -or- Fish with some type of Leafy Green Vegetables like Salad, Spinach, or Broccoli.
  (A very good lean protein meal with basic carbs)

The basic rule eat every 2 hours, eat as much as you like as long as it was lean and healthy.
WARNING: Lots of people in the fitness industry talk about eating as many calories as you can.
This will make you bulky.
That will help fuel your workouts but reality is will only put on mostly fat.
It's not how much you eat but what you should eat.
So you have to be-careful about putting on too much fat from excess calories.
Further to this Sherlock Holmes had to look skinnier for the role as opposed to Ironman although the same workout could have been used.
But the two roles needed a different look so that meant eating less calories like being hungry most of the time was the method used.
I would not normally suggest starving yourself is a good idea, unless it was along the lines of strategic fasting (beginning of every month I fast for 2 days over 3 days and it really helps trigger fatloss, on my blog explains this method).
I hope this short listing of the diets help you plan your food regime.
It gives good ideas and reinforces of what steps should be taken to look like these characters.