Natalie Portman on Bulking up for Thor: ‘I Was Asked to Get as Big as Possible’

5-foot-three Natalie Portman, slight of construct and excessive of voice, has all the time had a naturally petite presence. Even together with her powerhouse performing chops, she comes throughout as elfin, a trope she’s leaned into — ever seen that “Natalie’s Rap” sketch on SNL? However for her upcoming position as The Mighty Thor (Jane Foster plus hammer plus powers) in Marvel’s Thor: Love and Thunder, she was requested for the primary time in her profession so as to add muscle to her body, and the physical change affected her mentally, too.

“On Black Swan, I used to be requested to get as small as possible,” Portman told Variety, reflecting on the position — a ballerina — that netted her an Oscar. “[For Thor], I used to be requested to get as large as doable. That is an incredible problem — and in addition [a] frame of mind as a woman.”

“To have this response and be seen as large, you understand, ‘Oh, this should be so totally different, to stroll by the world like this,'” Portman added. “Once you’re small — and in addition, I feel, as a result of I began as a child — a variety of occasions I really feel younger or little or, like, a pat-on-the-head sort of individual. And I current myself that approach too, due to that.”

To arrange for the position, Portman labored with a coach for 10 months. However even essentially the most gifted bodily coach couldn’t make the actor taller, which the script additionally referred to as for. As a substitute, a ramp was constructed for the actor to stroll on during filming in order that she may stand eye-to-eye with costar Chris Hemsworth.