Natalie Portman talks Fighting Sexism and Thor: Love And Thunder I GLAMOUR UK

When she's mighty Thor, she's six foot and like,

jacked and to understand what that might be

to go through the world like that I think is,

was really an amazing opportunity as a very petite person.

It was incredible to get to play this powerful superhero.

It's rare, I think to get these kind of opportunities

in general and particularly as a woman,

it's even rarer so it felt really lucky

and I kept thinking Taiki every day,

I was like, this is so cool.

He makes it his mission to make sure everyone

has the best day possible every day.

He's DJing, he's on the mic trying to make everyone laugh.

He does like crew workouts where he, every hour on the hour,

there's like crew squats and pushups

and so it's just like,

I really understood how you can create

like a vibe on set that makes everyone excited

to come to work every day

and I think that's really, really just incredible.

Well, I think it's really wonderful

that those conversations are happening

'cause I think the conversations

are what has been propelling the expansion of this

and the normalization of it.

I think that's really lit the fire

under all the people in power

to make more films with central female characters

to make more superheroes that are female.

But yes, I pray for the day when it's completely normalized

and we don't have to talk about it

and it's just the way things are.

I look forward to that day, but I appreciate

until it really is kind of just the way of the world.

I appreciate that people

are still propelling the conversation.

It's incredible and I see the effect on my kids of getting

to grow up in a world where there are characters

that represent all of humanity and all of the range

of human possibility

and I see that how different it is,

the way they're growing up versus the way I grew up.

The actual entertainment and creative expression

that people are putting out into the world,

I think gives, shows them

that they have the full range of possibility

for who they wanna be, who they wanna love.

It was really fun to get to play.

First of all, both sides of this character

that there's this superhero kind of like tough, badass side

and there's also very human vulnerable,

self-doubting, fearful side

and then also to have this character become big

when she's mighty Thor,

she's six foot and like jacked

and so to understand what that might be

to go through the world like that I think is,

was really an amazing opportunity as a very petite person

and then to think, what is it mean

to take up as much space as possible?

What does it feel like to walk into a room

and see over everyone's head and be able to kind of control

and have people be intimidated by you?

That it's just a very different way

of walking through the world.

Also there's no hiding like I can walk

into a room and kind of like no one pays attention

but when you're that big,

Chris Hemsworth walks into a room and he can't help

but everyone looks at him just he's an imposing figure.

Of course also very well known

but first step is recognizing the influence

of this kind of pressure

to take up as little space as possible

which I think is kind of like a female message.

We get with all the like be tiny, be tiny.

Of course, I mean the recent Supreme Court decision around

that has taken away women's right

to make their own decisions about their healthcare

because abortion is healthcare, is clearly...

devastating to live in a country where your personhood

is not given the same treatment as others.

I think that that's been probably

the most blatant, infuriating example

of just feeling like you're in you live in a country

that doesn't value you

and your agency and your autonomy in any way.

I feel like the past decade has been

like a real learning process of learning

how to use my voice and seeing so much

I think learning so much from being in community

with other women, those kinds of sharing conversations

with other women that I work with.

That's been really, really I think probably

the most like had the biggest impression on me

in terms of learning to use my voice.

I think early on that I went to college, I feel like a lot

of people were kind of like, why are you going to college?

And that was really amazing for me to kind of get this,

first of all like life experience and learning experience

and also the group of friends

that has sustained me to this day of, just incredible people

who are doing all different things.

And then I think having a family

while working also just gave me a complete new,

first of all, appreciation and understanding

for every working parent

but also gave me a new relationship to my work.

Sometimes the limitations I've had of like,

oh, I need to shoot things that only happen

during my kid's school vacations in the city

where I live have actually led me to creative experiences

I might not have otherwise taken on

because like always sometimes your creative limitations

like bring you the kind of breakthroughs as well.

Oh yeah, I mean, I definitely feel like I know myself better

than at any other, which I mean,

I should hope for everyone that at the moment they are,

they know themselves better than they did before,

but there's always the feeling of like,

Ah, if I could just be 20 again,

knowing what I know about myself now.

I could really take advantage of that moment much better.

Well, it did.

It just makes you exercise kind of different aspects

of yourself because you obviously a lot of what you do

as an actor is being quite fluid

and working to help create someone else's vision

namely your director

and I love that and obviously advocating for your character

and what you think creatively, but also working

within someone else's structure which I love

and then when you are producing

or directing or running a business, you're in more

of a creating the structure kind of position

and dealing with things that come up

and putting out fires and there's,

it's a different level of responsibility

so it's been, it's been really interesting

to kind of find those parts of myself.