Hemsworth bulked up while fighting off "boredom" during COVID-19 lockdowns in Australia, swimming, lifting weights, doing martial arts, and eating around 6,000 calories a day
Chris Hemsworth's wife is not a fan — of his huge muscles!
The Thor: Love and Thunder star, 38, tells USA Today that wife Elsa Pataky was not impressed with the actor's single-minded devotion to bulking up for the title role.
"My wife was like, 'Bleh, it's too much,'" Hemsworth told the outlet. "There are a lot of my male friends who are like, 'Yeah!' but a lot of female friends and family are like, 'Yuck.'"
The actor transformed his body during pandemic lockdowns in Australia, he said, where he swam, lifted weights, did martial arts and ate around 6,000 calories a day.
"It came from boredom, sitting in COVID lockdown was like a prison," Hemsworth said.
But the four-month mountaintop shoot also took a toll on the movie superhero, who says he might opt for a shortcut next time.
"It was one thing to train and eat that much and then sleep all day," he told USA Today. "Doing this and then a 12-hour set day was something different. It was horrible. I won't do it again. They can give me a fancy muscle-y costume next time. I'm done."
Hemsworth is not the only star who packed on the muscle for Thor.
Natalie Portman, who plays an astrophysicist in the movie, recently shared that being asked to gain weight was a nice change of pace.
Portman, 41, makes her triumphant return to the Thor franchise in Love and Thunder, where her character Jane reunites with her God of Thunder ex (Hemsworth) — and becomes his mighty hammer Mjölnir's new primary wielder, as the Mighty Thor.
"It's pretty unusual and wonderful to be tasked with getting bigger as a woman," the actress told The Sunday Times.
Portman focused on strength training and sauna sessions to help build muscle.
One person who was impressed with both Hemsworth's transformation?
Taika Waititi, who directed the latest installment in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
It's crazy how big Chris got for this," Waititi told USA Today. "He's huge already, but when I saw his arms, they were twice as big as normal, as wide as my head. Trainers and stuff are asking me how he does it? But it's all natural."
Thor: Love and Thunder, which also stars Tessa Thompson, Chris Pratt, Christian Bale, Russell Crowe and more, is in theaters now.
