New York Daily News

Thompson and Portman on female bonds of working together in a Thor movie

- BY PETER SBLENDORIO

The bond between Natalie Portman and Tessa Thompson is much more than “Thor.”

The actors loved reuniting for the new Marvel movie “Thor: Love and Thunder” after previously teaming up in the 2018 science-fiction thriller “Annihilati­on.”

Returning as the warrior Valkyrie in the latest “Thor” film, Thompson says her character gets a kick out of her newfound sisterhood with Portman’s Jane Foster, who becomes superhero The Mighty Thor in the movie, out Friday in theaters.

“That was life imitating art, because I was very, very happy to have Natalie with us,” Thompson told the Daily News.

Portman, 41, starred as the astrophysi­cist Jane in 2011’s “Thor” and its 2013 follow-up “Thor: The Dark World,” but did not appear in 2017’s “Thor: Ragnarok,” which was Thompson’s first film in the franchise.

Jane is the ex-girlfriend of Chris Hemsworth’s Thor, and Thompson says there’s an “understand­ing” between her character and Portman’s once they meet.

“We sort of strike up this friendship, so you do get this sense of a kind of rapport,” Thompson, 38, said. “In previous films, you’ve seen Valkyrie sort of be this foil to Thor, and getting to see The Mighty Thor there to kind of one-up him is a joy to Valkyrie.”

Portman, too, was thrilled to work again with Thompson after “Annihilati­on,” which follows explorers who investigat­e a supernatur­al quarantine zone.

“The experience is so incredible, just to have sisters on set that you can be working with after, I think, many years of having the experience of being one of the only women, if not the only woman, on set,” Portman told The News. “It’s a very exciting feeling.”

 ?? ??

Newspapers in English

Newspapers from United States