Zap2it.com

Once a gifted young actor on the rise, Tobey Maguire has made the transition to star thanks to last year's "Spider-Man" - not only the biggest money-maker of 2002, but the fifth highest-grossing film of all time. Only 2-.5 years ago Miramax left the actor out of its ad campaign for "Wonder Boys," in which he played the second lead character.

Yet most of Maguire's oeuvre has been built on his ability to play geeks; "Spider-Man's" Peter Parker, "Wonder Boy's" James Leer, Homer Wells of "Cider House Rules," David Wagner of "Pleasantville" and "The Ice Storm's" Paul Hood. Even Maguire was ready for a change.

"I'm kind of over being the kid who needs practice talking to the girl," Maguire told Zap2it when doing publicity for "Spider-Man." "I don't relate to that anymore - I do in reflecting back on my life but it's so far away from me."

For his latest film, Gary Ross' horse-racing drama, "Seabiscuit," 28-year-old Maguire finally gets to step out of teenage angst to play real-life racing jockey Johnny "Red" Pollard. But while Maguire is no longer playing a geek, he is still playing a loser. Although Pollard rose to fame riding Seabiscuit, he had an accident shortly before Seabiscuit's legendary match race against the industry's top horse, Triple Crown-winner War Admiral, leading George "The Iceman" Woolf to take his place. In addition, while Pollard had successes with Seabiscuit, he never matched those successes with any other horse.

"I think the thing is when he got together with Seabiscuit, they brought the best out in each other," Maguire says in a press conference for the film.

Pollard is perhaps the most complex character Maguire has ever brought to screen. The child of wealthy parents who lost everything they had at the start of the Depression, Pollard was abandoned by his parents while still in his teens and left to make a living at the one thing he could - riding horses. Supplementing his income with boxing, Pollard led a very tough and troubled life before he and Seabiscuit started winning races.

"I heard in one of these documentaries (about Pollard) that somebody said to him that he was basically going to amount to nothing and I think personally that kind of thing did drive him," Maguire says. "But I also think he was at a point where he was a broken man and a little bit desperate, that it was just a fortunate set of circumstances, or destiny, or whatever, because he was not a very successful jockey prior to Seabiscuit and he became really famous and I think he really enjoyed that."

Getting ready for the film meant more than just dying his hair red and getting it curled every day. He also had to look the part of a jockey. Before the film started shooting, the actor underwent extensive physical training to transform his body for the part, which included 16 workouts a week and dropping from 160 to 137 pounds.

"I think it's not hard for me in the beginning - it excites me and I just dive into it and I like seeing the results of it and something that's tangible," he says of his training regiment. "A lot of the homework I do is just about learning the psychology of the character and that's very interesting to me - you look in the mirror and you see it and you start to see the characters poking through physically and that's fun. The hard part is maintaining it while shooting. You're working 14 hours a day and you still have to be on a diet even though you're so tired and you're not getting enough sleep and all you want is sugar.

"I had some mini breakdowns where I just said, `Bring me as much candy and donuts as you can possibly find.' I actually had competitions with a couple people; two people each brought me different little baskets of treats but I just ended up eating it all anyway. Then I would have to pay for those breakdowns," he laughs.

By the time shooting started and he got up on the horse, he realized the training was well worth it.

"I did not realize what kind of athletes jockeys are. I mean, they are just warriors these guys - it's unbelievable," he says. "The first time I actually got up in the stirrups and did a bit of a gallop on a racehorse and also just did some posting, I couldn't believe it. After a couple of minutes, my legs were noodles; I could barely stand up. It's just unbelievable and these guys are doing it seven days a week, 52 weeks a year."

"Seabiscuit" opens nationwide July 25.