Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman Ate Asparagus for ‘Breakfast, Lunch, and Dinner’ on ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Set
Marvel fans enjoyed plenty of on-set details from the cast of Thor: Love and Thunder leading up to the film’s big-screen debut on July 8, 2022. Tessa Thompson, who reprises her role as Valkyrie, recently shared how diets and fitness regimens helped her bond with co-star Natalie Portman.
Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman return for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
Thor: Love and Thunder is the third installment in the God of Thunder movies. Directed by Taika Waititi, who helmed Thor: Ragnarok, the film follows Thor and a crew of familiar faces as they team up to defeat Gorr the God Butcher.
Thompson’s character, Valkyrie, was introduced in Thor: Ragnarok. She’s a former Asgardian soldier who ended up as a bounty hunter on a far-off planet. Valkyrie also took over for Thor as King of Asgaard after the Avenger’s retirement.
One of the old friends who joins Thor and Valkyrie on their adventure is Jane Foster, played by Portman. Jane is Thor’s former flame, and in Thor: Love and Thunder, she mysteriously shows up wielding Thor’s hammer. Fans are excited to see a newly-buff Portman show her stuff in the movie, and Thompson recently gave an inside look into how she and Portman got into shape for their roles.
Why did Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman eat asparagus for ‘breakfast, lunch, and dinner?’
Thompson sat down with Extra to discuss the latest Thor movie. And her interviewer asked about her and Portman’s diet and fitness regime during filming. The star made a note of one particular instance.
“I do remember one day,” Thompson recalled. “Because we — Natalie and I — we were lucky enough to have someone prepare food for us when we were on set and…one day she was like, ‘Why do we have asparagus, breakfast, lunch, and dinner?'”
Thompson explained, “And I was like, ‘Oh, that’s my fault,’ because it’s a natural diuretic, so it’s just good to help you shed water weight.”
Tessa Thompson and Natalie Portman worked out together on set
Thompson and Portman didn’t just eat healthily together; they also worked out alongside each other to stay in shape while working on the movie.
“We did work out together,” Thompson shared. “There was a gym — a really big, fantastic gym — that they built for us onset because you have to work out…quite a lot to sustain it; Chris [Hemsworth], especially.”
She continued, “We would work out sometimes on breaks or before we go to set in the morning, so sometimes we would overlap.” Thompson details how she and her trainer, Reggie, worked out together via Zoom early in the COVID-19 pandemic. Even though it was a challenge, Thompson shared that she “feel[s] really grateful.”
“Natalie says this, too,” she went on. “It’s, like, really a gift to have a part [of] the challenge of the job [be] to get in the best shape that you can get. It’s not just about, like, lifting weights and everything, and that’s something Natalie told me.”
Thompson and Portman’s hard work definitely paid off; both actors look strong and ready to take on any intergalactic villains Thor: Love and Thunder will throw at them. Fans can’t wait to see them finally team up on the big screen!
RELATED: ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Star Tessa Thompson Calls Natalie Portman a ‘Real World Superhero’
