Natalie Portman’s split-second appearance in Thor: Love and Thunder’s teaser trailer set Twitter ablaze with comments about how ‘jacked’ she looks.
Portman recently spoke about her intense training regime for the
Taika Waititi-directed blockbuster, but it’s not the first time the
Oscar-winning star has put herself through a gruelling routine for a
role.
You’ll probably recall Black Swan, the ballet psychodrama
Portman won an Academy Award for back in 2011. Well, it’s safe to say that
her gnarly training regime for the flick makes bench pressing 200kg look
like child’s play.
Not only did Portman mainly stick to a
punishing diet of almonds and carrots, but she trained for eight hours a
day, seven days a week.
Pushing her body through a gruesome
concoction of ballet, miles-long swims and cross-training, it’s no wonder
the star dropped more than nine kilograms in the process.
Former
New York City Ballet dancer Mary Helen Bowers oversaw Portman’s ballet
training and told Shape magazine after the film’s release: “We usually
started by swimming a mile a day, doing the front crawl and breaststroke.
“Then we'd do 2 hours of ballet exercises and resistance work."
She explained: "The physical discipline of it really helped for
the emotional side of the character because you get the sense of the
monastic lifestyle of only working out, that is a ballet dancer's life.
"You
don't drink, you don't go out with your friends, you don't have much food
and you are constantly putting your body through extreme pain, so you get
that understanding of the self-flagellation of a ballet dancer."
If
her brutal Black Swan prep is anything to go by, Portman no doubt found her
Love and Thunder routine a walk in the park.
Asked by Fallon:
“Are you doing these crazy workouts and stuff?" Portman replied: "I’m
trying!"
She added: "I’ve had like months of pandemic, eating
baked goods and laying in bed and feeling sorry for myself. I’m, like, super
tired after working out. And during. And dreading before.”
She added: "I’ve had like months of pandemic, eating baked
goods and laying in bed and feeling sorry for myself. I’m, like, super tired
after working out. And during. And dreading before.”
