Natalie PortmanPhoto: Frazer Harrison (Getty Images)
Over the weekend, we reported on a story out of Baltimore that “drug dealers” had supposedly tried to get $50,000 out of the producers of the Natalie Portman-starring Apple TV+ drama Lady In The Lake and threatened to “shoot someone” if they didn’t get it. According to a statement from the police at the time, the people working on the show simply rescheduled what they were planning to film and found a new location for it.
Now, though, the cops in Baltimore have released a new statement and, well, it turns out they had the whole thing wrong. Those gun-wielding drug dealers, looking to squeeze half-a-million out of a prestigious Apple TV+ production? It was actually one “local street vendor” who couldn’t sell clothes in his usual spot because of where the show was being filmed, and he was “arrested on narcotics charges” while “awaiting paperwork to receive compensation for lost business.”
This comes from The Hollywood Reporter, which says everything about someone coming to set with a gun was also wrong. Apparently the person who said they saw a gun retracted their statement, and an employee of the security company working on the set who said they heard someone threatening to “shoot in the air” if they didn’t get paid later noted that they “did not have firsthand knowledge of the incident” (as THR puts it). THR also stresses that the cops say this is still an ongoing investigation, so there might even be more twists.
Lady In The Lake is based on the book of the same name by Laura Lippman and stars Natalie Portman as a housewife in ‘60s Baltimore who gets invested in an unsolved murder mystery and becomes an investigative journalist, which brings her into contact with a social worker providing support to the city’s Black community.
Natalie Portman trained for 10 months and stuck to a strict high-protein meal plan in order to shape up for “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
“Natalie did five sessions a week and did not miss one session for the whole time period we trained,” Portman’s trainer Naomi Pendergast told Us Weekly in an interview published Thursday.
The fitness trainer explained that 41-year-old Portman’s major goal was to bulk up in her arms and really get shredded in the abdominal area.
“The initial goal was to build arm and abdominal definition,” Pendergast told the website. “We also worked on stability and agility for injury prevention as Natalie had some dynamic stunt scenes that required her to move, twist and land in various positions.
“I was also really pleased she got through the challenging stunt process without any injuries.”
Her workouts consisted of boxing, skipping around, core work, and weightlifting.
And because she was working out so rigorously, Portman, who is a vegan, had to switch up her diet so she could ensure enough protein intake to gain muscle as opposed to losing weight.
Pendergast shared that during filming, Portman would eat a vegan-based breakfast of oats and berries and a protein shake and her snacks on set would consist of fruit, nuts and salads. For lunch, Portman would have a vegan falafel dish with another protein shake and for dinner she’d eat vegan curry and a third protein shake.
“This amount of food was obviously way more than Natalie normally eats, but it was essential for her to maintain this throughout filming to keep the muscle she had developed,” Pendergast said.
Portman shared how she is used to having to look small in her movie roles so bulking up was a whole new challenge. Loredana Sangiuliano / SOPA Imag
The RPX Fitness director explained that while she provided the guidance, it was Portman’s dedication that helped her meet her fitness goals for the Marvel film.
“I provided the exercises and guidance, but she did the rest,” Pendergast said. “She is focused, determined, and humble. Natalie turned up every session that was scheduled for the 10 months and gave 100 percent, even on the days she was tired.”
The “Black Swan” actress discussed her new muscular figure, telling Variety that she saw herself in a new light.
“On ‘Black Swan,’ I was asked to get as small as possible,” Portman recently told Variety. “Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That’s an amazing challenge — and also state of mind as a woman.”
She added, “To have this reaction and be seen as big, you realize, ‘Oh, this must be so different, to walk through the world like this. When you’re small — and also, I think, because I started as a kid — a lot of times I feel young or little or, like, a pat-on-the-head kind of person. And I present myself that way, too, because of that.”
The actress didn’t miss a single day of working out, according to her trainer. Samir Hussein/WireImage
Portman’s co-star Chris Hemsworth also had to go the extra mile to prepare for his role as Thor.
As Page Six exclusively revealed, Hemsworth, 38, had to eat eight meals a day to look like the God of Thunder.
“Thor: Love and Thunder” hits theaters Friday, July 8.
After Thor: Ragnarok, fans obviously expected Thor: Love and Thunder to be wild. Just off-the-walls bonkers nonsense from the man who does that better than anyone: writer-director Taika Waititi. Now, the first trailer is here, and it delivers on that promise and more. The Marvel Cinematic Universe is, indeed, bringing the thunder. And we love it.
Thor: Love and Thunder opens July 8 in theaters only. It brings back Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, and Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, as well as all of the Guardians of the Galaxy, Oscar winners Christian Bale and Russell Crowe, and a whole lot more. Many of which you see right here in this incredible trailer.
When last we saw the God of Thunder, he’d left New Asgard in the capable hands of Valkyrie, and set off back into the cosmos with the Guardians of the Galaxy at the end of Avengers: Endgame. As you can see this movie picks up from there and goes into places we’d never expect. Well, except for that whole Jane Foster becoming the Mighty Thor thing—that was revealed waaaay back at San Diego Comic-Con 2019 when Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige laid out the plan for Phase 4. At that time, Thor: Love and Thunder was one of the last entries. Now it’s finally coming and it will, from what we can tell, certainly be setting things up for the future.
Oh, and isn’t it wild that Thor: Love and Thunder is the first fourth Marvel Studios character movie? The Avengers got four movies but Iron Man and Captain America only got three. Does that make Thor the current crown jewel of the Marvel Cinematic Universe? Or is it just that Marvel couldn’t say no to another Waititi movie when he basically has his choice of projects, including Star Wars? Probably a bit of both. In the meantime, check out a new poster for the movie too.
Image: Marvel Studios
Tell us what you think of the trailer below. Love and Thunder opens July 8.
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Disney+ has been quietly teasing its What If…? animated series for a while now, having released a quick teaser late last year that was fairly light on the wacky potential of Marvel’s What If brand. Today, though, Marvel Studios celebrated the long-awaited announcement of the show’s premiere date (August 11!) with an extended trailer that cuts right to the chase—and by “the chase” we mean good shit like Killmonger saving Tony Stark from the attack at the beginning of Iron Man, T’Challa leading the Guardians Of The Galaxy (and wearing a much cooler coat than Star-Lords, let’s be honest), what appears to be a Hawkeye Hulk (Hulkeye?), and, best of all, the arrival of Captain Peggy Carter. The idea, like the What If comics that the series is named after, is that these are alternate versions of the stories shown in the movies, presumably with easy hooks like “What if Peggy Carter got the super-soldier serum?” or “What if Hulkeye?”
Jeffrey Wright is playing Uatu The Watcher, here giving the usual “I’m just here to see what happens, I will never, ever, ever intervene” speech that comic readers know is complete and utter bullshit. The rest of the cast is similarly impressive, with Marvel Studios calling in pretty much everyone who has ever been in one of these movies who isn’t Chris Evans, Chris Pratt, or Robert Downy Jr—as far as we can tell. Some of the voices are immediately recognizable (nobody does a classic “Michael Rooker voice” like Michael Rooker, and that’s very clearly Hayley Atwell as Peggy Carter), but IMDb, as untrustworthy as it is, also promises Tom Hiddleston, Samuel L. Jackson, Natalie Portman, Jeremy Renner, Mark Uffalo, Paul Rudd, Sebastian Stan, and even Chadwick Boseman. We’ve reached out to Disney for confirmation on the cast list, but if it’s really him, it would mean this will be the last chance to hear him playing T’Challa and that this will be his final role.