Kenneth Branagh recalls Chris Hemsworth’s 200 push-ups and four chickens
kenneth branagh says Chris Hemsworth’s Thor prep ran on four whole chickens and 200 push-ups, a memory from the first Marvel Studios film that still reads like a production note from another era. Fifteen years after audiences met Hemsworth as Thor, Branagh is still describing the physical scale of the role in numbers, not adjectives.
Branagh, who directed Marvel Studios’ Thor, said he fought hard to land the job and still remembers how Hemsworth handled the workday: “I would speak to him, and a door would open, and suddenly four whole chickens would arrive and be put in front of him.”
Thor Set Routine
Branagh said Hemsworth would stop and reset every 45 minutes to eat again, adding, “Gotta go eat, mate, 45 minutes have passed. I gotta have another fucking chicken.” That detail lands because it shows how deliberately the performance was built before the camera ever rolled on the shirtless scenes that helped define the character’s debut.
The director also said he asked Hemsworth to take his shirt off for the film, and the actor answered that he had spent nine months getting ready. Branagh said he then watched Hemsworth do 200 push-ups outside before returning to set.
Natalie Portman Reaction
Branagh recalled that Natalie Portman turned around and gasped when Hemsworth came back in after the push-ups. “That’s it! That’s what you do on film,” he said, treating the moment less like a joke than a practical demonstration of how physical preparation translates into a screen image.
The contrast in the story is simple: the role looked effortless on screen, but Branagh’s account shows how much staging went into that look. Hemsworth later kept playing Thor in other MCU projects and, Branagh said, has had to fluctuate his weight for roles in between appearances.
Avengers Return
Hemsworth is set to reprise Thor in Avengers: Doomsday and, theoretically, Secret Wars, keeping the character active well beyond the first film Branagh directed. For viewers who remember Thor as a breakout introduction in 2011, Branagh’s recollection is a reminder that the franchise’s body politics were already part of the job from the start.
