‘I really relished people seeing me as big:’ Natalie Portman on her 'increased height' in Thor: Love and Thunder

Revealing the professional secret of her 'increased height' in the upcoming movie 'Thor: Love and Thunder' Hollywood actor Natalie Portman said that to attain nine inches she bulked up her body and walked on a special 'deck' for the film.

According to Variety, Portman trained with a professional for about 10 months before and during the filming process. She bulked up her body and practised walking on the 'deck' for the role of Mighty Thor, which stood about 6 feet tall, about 10 inches taller than Portman's original height. "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 5-foot-3 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 'Black Swan' actor.

However, as it was practically impossible to elongate one's body, the director of 'Thor: Love and Thunder' along with his crew, devised a new method for Portman to achieve the required height for some of the scenes where she needed to walk with her co-stars, reported Variety.

Portman explained that the directors would 'build a path' for her that was some feet 'off the ground'. The actor's co-star Tessa Thompson who would reprise her character of Valkyrie in the film said that the special path was called 'a deck'.

"We'd rehearse the scene, they'd see the path, and then they'd build a path that was like one foot off the ground or whatever, and I would just walk on that," revealed Portman, as reported by Variety.

Later, the Oscar-award winner, Portman explained that the whole process to get into the required 'appearance' for the film was indeed 'intense'. She praised her co-star Chris Hemsworth for working 'so hard' and constantly doing 'some sort of training'.

"It's a quite intense and quite disciplined lifestyle to get to that appearance. Chris works so, so hard. Just constantly, every time he has a break, he has to be doing some sort of training... It's also the eating and saunas and ice baths and sleeps, all this stuff to get everything looking right. It's a full-time job!" said Portman.

Marvel had announced the title for 'Love and Thunder' back in 2019 at San Diego Comic-Con, where studio boss Kevin Feige revealed that Natalie Portman would be returning to the franchise for the first since 'Thor: The Dark World'. Besides Portman, other stars include debutants Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, Chris Pratt, and Dave Bautista.

Portman returns with her role of Jane Foster, the brilliant astrophysicist and ex-girlfriend of Thor but with a twist as Mighty Thor. Mighty Thor will be Jane's superhero personality which she transforms into when she possesses Mjolnir, the mystical hammer, reported Variety.

'Thor: Love and Thunder' is to open in theatres on July 8.