When actors have kissing scenes or love scenes, they often talk about it beforehand and figure out what goes where and how to respect each other’s no-go zones, etc. In recent years, those conversations are made easier by intimacy coordinators. Intimacy coordinators do everything from facilitate conversations about respect between actors in love scenes, to acting as advocate for an actor about nudity, to ensuring that an actor doing nudity is taken care of and there’s a closed set. All of that is great. I don’t know if there was an intimacy coordinator on Thor: Love & Thunder, but Natalie Portman and Chris Hemsworth did have to kiss a bit. They’ve kissed on-screen before and they’re obviously friends and respect each other as coworkers. According to Natalie, Chris went above and beyond for their kissing scene – he stopped eating meat temporarily because he knows Natalie is a vegan.
It’s no secret that Marvel actors often adhere to strict diets and exercise regimens while preparing to film intense superhero fight sequences. But Chris Hemsworth might be the first to significantly alter his daily food intake in preparation for a kissing scene.
In a recent interview with Capital FM, Natalie Portman revealed that her onscreen love interest cut meat out of his typically meat-heavy diet before locking lips with her on the set of “Thor: Love and Thunder” because he remembered she was vegan.
“The day we had a kiss scene, [Hemsworth] didn’t eat meat that morning because I’m vegan,” Portman said. “He eats meat like every half hour. That was so thoughtful. … That’s not something I’m angry about or care about, but he was just being thoughtful. He’s a very nice person.”
“I didn’t know that,” Portman’s “Love and Thunder” co-star Tessa Thompson said in the same interview. “That’s really sweet.”
In shock, Thompson added that she “didn’t even know [Hemsworth] could go without eating meat” and joked that the Australian action star eats bison for breakfast.
That is nice, but I’m glad Portman said “That’s not something I’m angry about or care about” because… that would be a lot of drama if she did care about it. It sounds more like Chris didn’t want to have meat-breath when he kissed Natalie, which is considerate and respectful. Many actors will pop a mint or brush their teeth before kissing scenes anyway, Chris planned ahead that day and was like “no ham for me, I’ve gotta kiss a vegan.”
Photos courtesy of Backgrid, Instar, Marvel.
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That’s kind & thoughtful of him. I’m impressed!
That’s very sweet and thoughtful
That’s actually really sweet and thoughtful! I’m sad she had to specify it wasn’t her doing though, but I get it. I’m sure people have harped on her for being vegan, and would’ve twisted the story to her being an angry man hating feminist vegan who forced poor Chris to stop eating meat during filming. I was a quiet vegetarian for 8 years and when men found out they’d get so angry for some reason.
Being vegan in Hollywood is no big deal. Being a vegan who compared tolerating meat eaters at the dinner table to tolerating rapists, then going on to sign that Free Roman Polanski petition – that’s where Natalie gets much deserved criticism.
I am aware that she regrets signing the petition, but her other commentary is still sus.
Still, it’s considerate to avoid eating meat when you know you have to kiss a vegetarian/vegan on set.
I’m sure you’ve heard the joke…
How do you know someone is vegan? THEY’LL TELL YOU.
What people put into their bodies is their own business…meat or no meat? YOUR BUSINESS. what I have an issue with is people who preach one way or the other…the omnivore who tells the vegan they’re not getting enough protein and probably aren’t very healthy, and the vegan who gets all pious and preachy and tells the omnivore they’re a murderer…or, in Portman’s case, a r*pist.
ON TOPIC: this was a nice thing for Hemsworth to do.
I know you’re being facetious but being a vegan means there is a philosophy behind the ritual oftentimes.
Veganism sparks interesting debates about morals and sustainability. If people don’t want to think they are chewing a dead body that is interesting no? Also the treatment of cows is not far from rape.
In my experience even when I don’t want to talk about it, people ask me why I am a vegan and when I see comments like yours I am reminded of all the times I was peacefully eating my spaghetti with tomato sauce and people kept questioning me about veganism when I wasn’t willing to chat about it. I very seldom will start a convo at dinner about these topics.
Also, we have to say we’re vegan in order to not frustrate people who invite us for dinner or buy us a box of chocolates, or when we keep refusing food offerings.
So yes, vegans will tell, lime i just did.
I get it. most vegans I know have adopted that diet due to moral stances. which, as noted, is THEIR business. but, it’s not MY business. I don’t ask but I find that a LOT of them will still preach to you. THAT is the type of person I mean. and it does go both ways. if I ASK you about your diet and you don’t want to discuss it (because of an experience with the type of omnivore I described above who might lecture you), then don’t. just say, “I don’t like to talk about my dietary habits but there are lots of articles and books you can read on the subject.”
“I very seldom will start a convo at dinner about these topics.”
in that case, you are very clearly not the kind of vegan I am talking about. but, not gonna lie, I’ve come across TOO MANY of the other kind, who think that MY diet is THEIR business. it’s not. and your example – that is, telling someone who invites you for dinner that you do a vegan diet – is not the kind of “they’ll tell you” I mean. your example is equivalent to what a person who is allergic to peanuts or eggs would tell a person who invited them to dinner, and it’s a completely understandable thing to tell someone. it’s not the type of PROCLAMATION! that I was referring to when I said “they’ll tell you”.
LOL I desperately try to avoid telling people I‘m vegan because of attitudes like that. I don’t know any preachy vegans and I‘m not the one to preach but meat eaters feel often attacked just because my refusal to consume animals makes them feel like they’re doing something wrong. That’s not on me. I’ve had to listen to people explain to me that they will continue to eat meat and dairy. Okay? I didn’t ask. However, it’s unavoidable if you’re invited to someone’s home or go out to eat. My friends and family have thankfully reacted very positively, immediately sought out vegan recipes etc. That was super lovely.
As for Natalie, she’s been a Dior rep forever and that’s not a vegan brand so … yeah.
Agree, Nikki. Nice to see a nice story once in a while!
And also neat that Natalie shared it 🙂
Ok, he gets extra points in the “Best Chris” tally for this
I’m Australian so he had my vote anyway, but this definitely cements it. I love that he’s considerate. It takes so little effort to think of others but so few will do it.
He’s already my best Chris so I concur. 🙂
Maybe because I am vegan too, I am now asking myself how I would feel should Chris Hemsworth go to such lengths when kissing me. For a film. And now I am thinking of kissing Chris Hemsworth. I am married. And now I am imagining how part of an actor’s work is thinking about kissing someone other than your partner (unless you’re single or polyamorous).
Ok…
Back to work it is now, where I just need to check whether my meeting is on Zoom or Google meets.
That’s very sweet!
That’s very kind of him. Hearing about so many actors with really poor on-set behavior, it’s nice to hear about those who go the extra mile to be respectful of their colleagues.
He seems like a legit nice guy.
Yay to having a pleasant story about someone doing something nice for an other person. Thank you Chris, Natalie and CB for sharing it with us!