Marvel fans were shocked to see Natalie Portman bulk up for the upcoming “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
The 41-year-old wields the magical hammer Mjolnir and embodies the superhero, the Mighty Thor, for the fourth installment of the franchise.
Portman recently revealed that production told her to gain weight for the transformative role.
“On ‘Black Swan,’ I was asked to get as small as possible,” the Oscar winner explained to Variety. “Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That’s an amazing challenge — and also state of mind as a woman.”
The Israeli-born starlet worked with a personal trainer for more than 10 months before and during filming starting in fall 2020 to revamp her body.
The “Garden State” actress rebuilt her shoulders and arms and turned them into muscle.
The Oscar winner got in shape to reprise her character of Jane Foster/ the Mighty Thor in “Thor: Love and Thunder.”Marvel Entertainment“To have this reaction and be seen as big, you realize, ‘Oh, this must be so different, to walk through the world like this,’” she said.
Portman added, “When you’re small — and also, I think, because I started as a kid — a lot of times I feel young or little or, like, a pat-on-the-head kind of person. And I present myself that way, too, because of that.”
“I mean, it’s always amazing to see yourself, even if only for a split second, in a Marvel film, because you’re in places that you’ve never actually been before,” she told the outlet. “It’s like seeing photos from a vacation that you never took or something.”
Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth in 2013’s “Thor: The Dark World.” JAY MAIDMENTShe also noted how the bad reviews for 2013’s “Thor: The Dark World” didn’t phase her.
“I mean, I had it with ‘The Professional’ too,” the mother of two divulged of her 1994 film launch. “It was slaughtered critically, and now, despite having been in Marvel and ‘Star Wars’ movies, it’s the main thing people come up to me about.
“That and ‘Star Wars’ are two examples of things that when they came out, I was like, ‘Oh, my God, this is a disaster.’ And then 20 years later — actually, 30 years later for ‘The Professional’ — it’s beloved,” the Golden Globe winner continued.
Portman portrayed Padmé Amidala in the “Star Wars” prequel trilogy, starting in 1999 until 2005.
Chris Hemsworth, Christian Bale, Russell Crowe, Tessa Thompson and director Taika Waititi also star in the action-packed flick, “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which premieres in theaters on July 8.
