Having watched Thor Love and Thunder this last week, a thought occurred. With CGI being used to de-age actors on a semi regular basis these days, can it be used to make them look more muscular? The traditional way has been working with a trainer and errr supplements. Surely it makes everyone’s life easier.
Chris Hemsworth obviously, but Natalie Portman is also bulked up in the movie. I have met her and she is diminutive . I am 5 10’, and I towered over her, even with her wearing heels.
Both actors released behind the scene videos of their workout, routine, so they did hit the gym, but in the film both look much much bigger then their pictures.
Also, for what it’s worth, CGI was used to de-bulk Chris Evans for the first portion of the original Captain America movie, when his character, Steve Rogers, was a skinny kid, prior to the Super-Soldier treatment.
Here I was hoping the article would show a behind the scenes shot of her on her platform standing next to the tall dude. But nope, even in the trade press they don’t want to show daylight onto the magic. Not even while explaining the magic. Harumpph!
As the rumor that Marvel used CGI effects to retouch Portman’s muscles went viral, Kevin Feige, president of Marvel, made a statement on the matter. He said the the muscles in the images and videos were authentic and not retouched.
He stressed that the markers on Portman’s arms were for CGI effects but not to add muscles.
As to how she got so muscular…
“I trained for a long time before and during, and I was doing the whole protein shakes [thing]. It really helped prepare me for the level of action that we ended up doing.”
Natalie trained and bulked up to have those muscles. However, no amount of training will let you shoot lightning or make armor magically appear on you. So yes, there was a need for CGI effects.
I am guessing in her case, since she is very petite, any additional musculature will stand out while Hemsworth, even aside from Thor is already a fairly ripped man.
Most likely, before any scene where the actor’s muscles were particularly on display, they were right off camera before filming, “bulking up” with some quick exercises. Do a dozen push-ups, and some dumbbell curls, rights before you need to look buff and your muscles will bulge more than usual.
I think it was one of the Marvel Chrises (what is the plural of Chris?) who said in an interview that the scenes where the actors muscles were on display would be shot first, sometimes months in advance during pre-production, since the workout required to maintain that look necessitated multi hours a day in the gym, which wasn’t feasible with the 16 hour days which were common during principle photography…
