Portman and Dennings joined Thor star Chris Hemsworth and director Kenneth Branagh to chat up the film at Comic Con, the largest gathering of comic book fans on the planet (so says the Guinness Book of World Records). Portman's no stranger to franchise films having played Padmé in the Star Wars saga, and she's no stranger to the Comic Con crowd having made the trek to San Diego before for V for Vendetta. And after talking to the enthusiastic crowd - following a brief delay due to an unfortunate stabbing incident - Portman and Dennings sat down to talk about the film with the press.
Natalie Portman and Kat Dennings Thor Roundtable Interview
How does Thor compare to the other big movies you’ve done?Natalie Portman: "It was actually a very different experience than those because we were on earth, our section of the film was on earth, there’s very little blue screen work that we did. Also, Ken is such an incredible actor and director for actors that it was a very different experience too, just having someone give such attention to character and performance on a movie of this scale."
Kat, female parts are usually the lone wolf in superhero movies. Was it nice to have another woman involved not just in the movie, but also as a costar?
Kat Dennings: "Yeah, I mean, I think the Darcy role was expanded as we went through the rehearsal process, so she started out as something and ended up as something else. It was pretty great. There is a pretty great female presence in the film with Jane Foster and Darcy and Siff also and Friga, Thor’s mother. I really like, not to be biased, but I really like our relationship in the movie. I mean, we haven’t seen any of it but I know. I feel like our love in real life came out."
Natalie Portman: "Yeah, Kat and I knew each other before the film and were good friends before, so it was great to get to play and laugh throughout."
Kat Dennings: "Poor Stellan."
Natalie Portman: "Yeah, Stellan Skarsgard was the third. We were like a little trio but he was constantly like [with] these two giggling girls and was always rolling his eyeballs."
Kat Dennings: "Talking about boys and nail polish. He had to sit there and take it, poor guy."
How long does it take for Jane to figure out Thor’s character?
Natalie Portman: "Well, I don’t want to give anything away but yes, there is a period where they’re just like, 'This guy’s a weird alien. Why is he acting that way?' It was definitely a fun aspect to play sort of the ability to believe in things that are unbelievable."
Talk about Chris Hemsworth.
Natalie Portman: "Well, I will just gush now. Chris is a fantastic actor, has a very quiet confidence. He’s not showy or show-offy in any way but is able to walk into a room with Ken Branagh and act his pants off and not be intimidated, and is able to shoulder this responsibility of taking on this huge character with incredible grace and is firmly implanted on the ground, is so kind, just decent human being. Universally nice to everyone, genuinely nice, very funny. I have no doubt that he’ll be a massive star. He’s just very talented and a very, very good person."
Kat Dennings: "Deserves all the success in the world. He’s a good boy."
Jane Foster is often the bridge between Thor and earth. Is her role in the film similar to that?
Natalie Portman: "Yeah, I think definitely that is part of her role in the movie. It sort of grounds him. He’s exiled to earth to learn humility. I think her earthiness is part of, hopefully, what transforms him. There are definitely changes in the character from the comic books, but that is certainly one of the things that has stayed."
What was Kenneth’s direction like?
Kat Dennings: "Pretty great. He’s someone I always idolized for acting. I’ve seen Much Ado About Nothing at least 800,000 times. He’s just so gifted in that there isn’t one moment that wasn’t explained thoroughly. There wasn’t a second, for me at least, that I didn’t completely understand what was going on because he tells you everything and he makes sure you’re not feeling lost. I can’t say enough."
Natalie Portman: "Yeah, he’s an absolute master. The attention he gives to character on a movie of this size is absolutely remarkable because it’s very easy to get lost in needing to do special effects, cover all of this action. People forget often characters, so never for one second did he let that go - always, always, always. I can’t imagine how exhausting it must have been at the end of the day."
Kat Dennings: "And he was really great too because he would ask us, he would usually ask a question and then in answering it you came up with what your character’s going through but he led you to that answer. The fact that you had to come up with it yourself really made it part of you and inside of you. It was a really amazing experience and he has infinite ideas for how to attack something and just infinite good mood. That’s crazy. Every day was fun."
Natalie Portman: "And the pressure and stress of something like this film, you’d never see that with a director, just being always wholly energetic and always positive. You just wanted to go to set in the morning. He would like entertain us. Between scenes he would tell us funny stories and interesting tidbits and anecdotes. We’d always learn something on set."
Kat Dennings: "I would kind of creepily watch him do things, just try to steal a little genius."
Natalie Portman: "It was fun watching him behind the monitor too because he sort of goes through it with the character. He sort of acts with it unconsciously, so he’ll be behind the monitor and he’ll be like [gesticulating] doing all this."
Kat Dennings: "It’s pretty cute."
Natalie Portman: "Pretty amazing."
