Natalie Portman praises Marvel for casting 'a 5ft3, 40-year-old, mother of two' in Thor

Natalie Portman is set to star in Thor: Love and Thunder and has been appearing on a number of TV shows to promote this film, including Lorraine in the UK.

While appearing on the UK daytime TV show, Lorraine, Natalie Portman opened up about her latest role in Marvel's latest Thor movie. In the interview, Natalie praised director Taiki Waititi for casting her in Thor: Love and Thunder despite her height and age. There are many male actors who are also parents and are playing similar roles as superheroes at the age of 40+, but women aged 40+ who are mothers are not typically considered for superhero roles.

Speaking about being cast as a superhero despite the possibility that her height and age could have held her back, Natalie said, "It was really really a lucky role to get to play, I really have to credit Taika (the director) and Marvel for their imagination for thinking about a 5ft3, 40-year-old, mother of two for this role." 

She added that her children were extremely impressed with their mom becoming a superhero, which made the role even more special for the actress. "I really understand what an incredible opportunity this is an it's been a major highlight of my career to be able to impress my kids," said Natalie.

In the interview, the star also spoke about how much she enjoyed bulking up for this role as she has not been asked to gain weight for a role before. Natalie revealed, "It was really wonderful to get to do the training, I haven't really been tasked in my lifetime with becoming as big as possible, so to get to train and try and bulk up, of course, my character is 6ft and I'm 5ft 3 in real life, so there's movie magic involved as well."

In her previous roles, such as Black Swan for which she won an Academy Award, Natalie has had to slim down rather than bulk up. Natalie Portman reflected on her Black Swan diet following her latest intense body transformation for Thor and revealed that of the two, bulking up is very different. "On Black Swan, I was asked to get as small as possible,” she said previously to Variety. “Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That’s an amazing challenge – and also state of mind as a woman."

In the interview, Natalie also spoke about the importance of women stepping into positions of power within the film industry, so that positive changes can be seen across Hollywood.

"I think the more that women step into leadership roles, the more they can create the kinds of environments that they want to be working in." Natalie added, "It's been absolutely incredible to take on leadership roles myself, to also work with other women in leadership roles and to have kind of a community, it is a very particular thing I think after so long being excluded from those positions of power."

If you want to catch up on the Marvel Cinematic Universe and watch all the Marvel Movies in order ahead of this movie, you may want to hurry as you don't have long before this film is released. Thor: Love and Thunder will be released in cinemas in the US on Friday, July 8, 2022, and in the UK the film will be released the day before on Thursday, July 7, 2022.