For his role in Ron Howard's movie "In the Heart of the Sea," lead star Christ Hemsworth had to shed off some weight for the second time around in his career, and he admitted that it can be pretty difficult especially since he has to bulk right up again for his role as Thor in Marvel movies.
For "Thor," Hemsworth weighed around 215 pounds, but for "In the Heart of the Sea," he only weighed 185 pounds.
"It's the second time I've done it, both times with Ron so maybe he's got some obsession with me being skinny," he jokingly shared during an interview with Collider. "But each time you put the muscle back on, your body has that muscle memory and wants to hang on to it, so you just have be well underfed and over-trained to get it off and it's exhausting."
Hemsworth does not want to come off as a complaining actor, since everybody involved with "In the Heart of the Sea" had to face the same challenges together.
"I mean, every film has challenges and all of us are doing it together, all the cast is doing it together so you keep each other motivated I guess and keep each other in check," he said. "And we all knew that that was what we had to do and what was required from the beginning. I can't say I was looking forward to it necessarily, but it's all good."
In fact, Hemsworth said that losing weight actually helped him get into character, so going on a diet is not really a bad thing.
"If I need to be agitated or angry or frustrated or depressed or moody, yeah, sure," he laughingly shared. "Definitely. It's tricky when you have to do the opposite of emotions, you know? But I think it does, especially this stuff, coming back after we return and when we are lost at sea at the worst of it. Yeah, you don't have to convince yourself that you're exhausted and hungry; you feel it. So yeah, I think you definitely use it."
Plus, Hemsworth is a huge fan of Howard's work, and he thinks the director's vision is just plain inspiring, even though he has "his varied taste and skill set and different genres."
"He loves to challenge himself and put himself in a situation where he's got to push the boundaries and think outside the box," he said.
