Thor 4: Natalie Portman and her big arms… 10 months of muscular preparation!

She is making a colossal return to Marvel: Natalie Portman not only takes over the role of Jane Foster in Thor: Love And Thunder, but also slips into the skin of Mighty Thor with a lot of muscles. We knew Jane Foster for the first time in Thor in 2011, then in Thor: The Dark World, but she was not present in Thor: Ragnarok.

For the announcement of her comeback, Natalie Portman went to Comic-Con and brandished Mjolnir, Thor’s famous hammer, which will be her accessory in Thor: Love And Thunder. And to live up to her superheroic incarnation of Mighty Thor, the actress had to undergo impressive physical training.

Ten months of training and a precise food routine

In an interview for variety, Natalie Portman explained that it took her ten months of hard work to develop the muscles in her arms and shoulders. And this training, which started in the fall of 2020, was a great experience for the actress:

“It was a fun experience. I had an awesome coach, Naomi Pendergast. And I also learned a lot watching Chris because he obviously knows a lot and works so hard. […] It was obviously a lot of work coupled with the Marvel magic of course because my character transforms in the movie so there’s a before and after, which is shaped by the magic of the movies.

But I really wanted her to walk differently and I thought she would want to behave in a little macho way, at least what she imagines superhero behavior to be.”

His coach Naomi Pendergast revealed to Insider Natalie Portman’s program to have the build of Mighty Thor, and in particular to have well-muscled arms: “Natalie’s initial goal was to have pumped up and strong arms, but we quickly realized that her role was much more than her look.

Natalie had to perform a number of stunts which required her body to be agile and very strong so this also became a focus in our practice sessions to ensure she was able to perform her stunts without injury and recover quickly after a day of stunts.”

The actress therefore followed an intense physical training but not only. The actress also followed a strict diet. The vegan actress adjusted her calorie intake, so she ate more calories so her body could build muscle mass:

“To determine her needs, Natalie did a metabolic test. This is a test that gives you a very accurate reading of your daily calorie needs. From these numbers, we were able to calculate how many extra calories per day you Natalie needed to build muscle.”

Marvel/Disney

For the rest of course, there is the magic of the special effects – “from Marvel” as Natalie Portman referred to it – and the editing to give Mighty Thor the rest of his look with the costume. The actress had to be 25 cm taller to have a size relatively similar to that of Chris Hemsworth.

This was only possible through the special effects and some framing tricks to increase its size and create the illusion. In addition to the CGI, the team built small raised paths in the sets especially for the actress to make her look taller.

The balance between physical training, a suitable diet and visual effects allowed Natalie Portman to have the build of Mighty Thor and rock the house in Thor: Love And Thunder.