Natalie Portman Went The Extra Mile To Prepare For Role In Black Swan

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.

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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."

Portman spoke candidly about the ‘extreme pain’ she put her body through when speaking to the Evening Standard back in 2012.

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."

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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.

When filming the new Marvel movie in 2020, the actress opened up about her gym schedule during a virtual appearance on The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon.

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.”

Thor: Love and Thunder will hit cinemas on 8 July, 2022