Chris Hemsworth was so mindful of Natalie Portman’s vegan diet that he abstained from meat for their kissing scene in Thor: Love and Thunder. Portman said that Hemsworth stopped eating meat on the day of their kiss despite the fact that meat was the staple of his diet in order to bulk up for his role as the thunder god.
“He’s really nice. The day we had a kiss scene he didn’t eat meat that morning because I’m vegan. And he eats meat like every half hour. Like, that was so thoughtful. That’s not something I’m angry about or care about, but he was just being thoughtful. He’s just a very nice person,” said Portman of her co-star.
Portman’s other co-star Tessa Thompson also chimed in to say, “I didn’t even know he could go without eating meat. He’s just like eating bison in the morning. That’s so sweet.”
Portman became vegan in 2011 after first becoming a vegetarian. Vegan diets are stricter in that it excludes dairy products such milk, cheese and eggs as well.
Interestingly Portman was also asked to bulk up for her role as Jane Foster in the film which posed a huge challenge for the petite 5 foot 3 lass.
She said that she lifted weights and drank protein shakes in order to get into super hero shape, training for 10 months.
Her character is meant to stand at six feet which is nearly 10 inches taller than her frame.
“I definitely got as big as I’ve ever been. You realize, Oh, this must be so different, to walk through the world like this. As a five-foot-three woman, I don’t know that I’m ever going to be cast again as a 6-foot character. I really relished people seeing me as big,” said the actress.
Portman compared her current challenge to her role in 2010’s Black Swan where she lost 20 pounds through strict diet and exercise. She won an Oscar for the role.
“On Black Swan, I was asked to get as small as possible,’ she reveals. ‘Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That’s an amazing challenge – and also a state of mind as a woman.”
She also spoke about her two children’s reaction to her transformation and her superhero role.
“I feel like it’s the phase of my career where I’m really trying to just impress my kids,’ Portman told Variety. My 5-year-old and my 10-year-old were so enthralled by this process, getting to visit the set and see me dressed up in a cape. It made it really cool. You know, it’s very rare that my kids are like, “Please go to work!” Usually, it’s quite the opposite.”
Thor: Love and Thunder raked in $143 million at its weekend box office debut.