A look inside Hollywood and the movies. : DOC HOLLYWOOD : Sports Medicine Meets the Mob

Among the seemingly endless list of credits that roll by at the end of TriStar’s “Bugsy”: “Special thanks to Dr. Leroy Perry Jr., the International Sports Medicine Institute.”

Just what did Dr. Perry--considered one of the world’s foremost sports trainers and a pioneer in the field of sports injuries--have to do with “‘Bugsy,” a film whose only sport is fistfights and mob murders?

According to Perry, his contribution was making sure Beatty had the proper “look” for his role as the mobster. “I helped him develop the specific body attitude that he wanted for the part,” says Perry, who has treated Olympic and professional athletes. (He was recently seen on-screen treating Beatty’s former girlfriend, Madonna, in “Truth or Dare.”) “Warren wanted a particular kind of look, a posture that he wanted to capture and I formulated an exercise and conditioning program to help him do that. A lot of it is just body movement related to posture training.”

Referring to the practice as “sports science,” Perry, who’s worked on several films with Beatty, including “Dick Tracy,” says more performers are becoming interested in his techniques, which are a blending of choreography and coaching.

“What’s really happened is that the whole thing has evolved into areas of the movie industry that helps actors, who want realism, achieve a particular look.”

For Beatty’s role in “Bugsy,” Perry designed an exercise program that included conditioning and weight training. “Warren is as much an athlete as he is an actor,” he says. “He works as hard as any athlete in training.”

And how does Perry think Beatty compared to the real Bugsy Siegel? “In a way, I think he’s almost producing something that’s better than reality,” he says. ‘Every movement, every eye movement, his shoulder posturing. He’s making statements all the way through. You don’t just see that, you also feel it.”