TACTICSLOSING WEIGHT FOR A FILM IS NOT A PHYSICAL
CHALLENGE BUT AN EMOTIONAL ONE...TOGET
BACK TO LOOKING LIKE THOR IS SIMPLE: I WORK OUT
APRIL 2016^39display playing Hunt. He certainly wasn’t cast
for his physical similarity to the maverick British
F1 driver, yet he nailed Hunt’s swagger, charm
and hint of vulnerability, if not quite the driver’s
cut-glass accent.
“PlayingJamesscaredthehelloutofmefor
that exact reason – here was this Australian
playing a genuine British hero. But I was
incredibly thankful that it was received in such
agreatway,andpeopleweren’toffendedby
whatIdidwithhim.”EXTREMEMEASURES
One person who clearly loved what he did with
himwasRonHoward,whoteamedupagainwith
Hemsworthforhismostrecentmovie,In The
Heart Of The Sea. The film is based on a 2000
non-fictionbookofthesamename,whichtells
the tale of a whaling ship sunk by a sperm whale,
and the attempts of its surviving crew to make it
back to land. Hemsworth pitched the book to
Howard not long after they finishedRush.
“I loved seeing how these guys responded
when thrown into the most utterly dreadful
situation,” Hemsworth enthuses. “The men
drifted for 90 days in small whaleboats and all
sortsofdreadfulthingsensued,butIfoundthe
courage and bond they formed compelling.”
Hemsworth was also up for making as much
of the film as possible without CGI. Filming took
placeintheAtlanticOceanofftheCanary
IslandsandwetsetsatLeavesdenStudiosin
theUK.“Inthestudio,”heexplains,“wehad
replicas of the ships in a massive pool and were
gettingshotatbywatercannons.Thewhole
thingwasonagimbalsotheboatcouldbe
flippedonitssideandwewouldgoflyingoutof
it.Itfeltliketheworld’scraziest,mostextremefairground ride. Then we went to the Canaries
and spent months on the ships at sea.”
It was there that Hemsworth and his co-stars
did something that couldn’t be achieved with
digital effects – the extreme weightloss
suffered by men adrift at sea for months.
“We couldn’t go away for a month and get
sk inny,” says H emswor th , “ we had to do i t
while we were shooting. At one point, a day’s
rations were a boiled egg, a couple of crackers
and a celery stick. I reckon about 90 per cent
of our conversations were about our favourite
foods and what we would eat when we
finished the film.”
It was toughest for Hemsworth: he’d just
shed his Thor muscles for Blackhat. Now he
had to lose 15 kilograms and was placed on a
500-calorie-a-day (2100 kilojoules) diet
(around 20 per cent of a man’s average intake).
“I was skinnier than ever before, but at least
we were losing weight together – the bond we
formed was incredible. It reminded me of
being on a football team growing up, where
you’d do anything for each other. You don’t
often get that on set.
“The problem with losing weight for a film is
that you’re underfed. The challenge is not
physical, but emotional: a chemical imbalance
that leads you into endless conversations with
yourself about food. What you can and can’t
eat, how much. I’ve always had that voice, but
this particular instance, it took full advantage of
making me feel guilty.
“To get back to looking like Thor is simple: I
get in the gym and work out. I enjoy it – it keeps
me fit and healthy. I’ve got to eat more calories- certain types and all clean – and it can get
boring eating chicken breast and rice and so
on. But at least you’re fed properly.”
or, Hemsworth has the toughest task
tors playing superheroes in the
inematic Universe. Jeremy Renner
rlett Johansson as Hawkeye and
idow play all-but-unknown characters
dcore fans were aware of, so they had
onceptions to overcome. Similarly,
owney Jr had no problem turning Iron
an extension of himself. And though
ffalo is a great Bruce Banner, his Hulk
is all CGI.
But Hemsworth has to be the god of thunder.
His costume bulges with godlike muscularity
3
Time, in seconds, that
Hemsworth takes to lower
on incline push-ups.
Result: hammered pecs.
Minutes stretching
after each workout,
so Hemsworth feels
less, ahem, Thor.