Speaking to Variety, Natalie Portman compared how she prepared for her role in “Thor: Love and Thunder” to the physical transformation she underwent to play a ballerina in “Black Swan.” She lost 20 pounds for the latter, telling Us Weekly, “I had never gotten that much training — to be doing five-to-eight hours a day of [it] was really a challenge.”
Portman also did plenty of intense training for “Thor,” but this time around, she had to bulk up like co-star Chris Hemsworth. “It’s pretty unusual and wonderful to be tasked with getting bigger as a woman,” she told The Sunday Times. “Most of the body transformations we’re asked to make are to be as small as possible.” Portman’s trainer, Naomi Pendergast, told Variety that the actor worked out every day for 10 months to get her superhero physique. Her fitness regime included boxing, Pilates, and lifting heavy weights.
Portman grew so tired of downing protein shakes to help her gain weight that she told The Sunday Times, “I don’t think I’ll ever have one again.” But the end result of her altered diet and strenuous workout routine was well worth it, as she revealed that she got in the best shape of her life. This is in stark contrast to how her grueling training for “Black Swan” made her feel. She told Entertainment Weekly, “There were some nights that I thought I literally was going to die.”
Nicki
