Natalie Portman has always been known for her lithe, petite, 5’3″ frame, especially after nabbing roles like Nina in Black Swan. But she was asked to do the opposite in order to star as the Mighty Thor, Jane’s persona in Thor: Love and Thunder, which will drop July 8.
Natalie opened up about having to gain so much muscle for her role and talked about how strange it was to be asked to take up more space rather than less, as she had done in the past.
Natalie Portman had to bulk up for Thor: Love and Thunder, the opposite of Black Swan
She told Variety, “On ‘Black Swan,’ I was asked to get as small as possible. Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That’s an amazing challenge — and also state of mind as a woman.”
Natalie apparently started working with a trainer for 10 months to build up her muscles, and from that developed an interesting point of view just from changing her physique.
She told the publication, “To have this reaction and be seen as big, you realize, ‘Oh, this must be so different, to walk through the world like this.’ 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.”
Of course, despite being able to pump some iron to build muscle, it’s impossible to make her as tall as her co-stars. She revealed, “We’d rehearse the scene, they’d see the path, and then they’d build a path that was like one foot off the ground or whatever, and I would just walk on that.”
Natalie appeared on the cover of Variety with her fists up
Natalie appeared on the cover of Variety for the interview, wearing what looked like gold knuckle rings with a design on them, and paired with a silver headband. Her hair was slicked back and she wore a smokey brown eye, with a light pink lip.
She had her hands held up in fists as if she was a boxer. Natalie looked at the camera with an angry, intense look on her face.
Natalie lost 20 pounds for her role in Black Swan
It’s a far cry compared to when she had to prepare for her role as Nina in Black Swan and reportedly subsisted on almonds and carrots. She lost 20 pounds for the demanding role that required rehearsing for up to 8 hours a day.
She told The Independent, “There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die.”
Thor: Love and Thunder premieres on July 8.