Chris Hemsworth was at his peak in terms of the physicality of his role as the mighty Thor in the MCU’s . While responses to the Taika Waititi-directorial were mixed, one unanimous praise was for Hemsworth’s chiseled physique which only seemed to get better with each appearance.
If Hemsworth was at the peak of his physique, that means even his stunt double had to push himself to resemble Hemsworth. Bobby Holland Hanton, Chris Hemsworth’s stunt double revealed that he had to train extremely hard to match the star’s body, while also engaging in visual trickery to match his height.
was always healthy and had a great physique, much to the appeal of fans who loved to see him shirtless in the movies. However, the actor reportedly wanted to bulk up more for his role in . His last appearance as the character in saw him as an overweight, hippie who spent his time playing Fortnite.
Filming for the fourth film was pushed back due to the COVID-19 pandemic and Hemsworth reportedly took this time off as an excuse to get into an even better physical shape than he already was in. He got hold of his stunt double Bobby Holland Hanton and pitched him his idea for a mightier and bulkier Thor.
Hanton revealed the conversation he had with Hemsworth in an interview with ,
“My reaction when we spoke on the phone was, ‘you have got to be kidding me’…He called me and said, ‘Look, I want to be the strongest, healthiest, fittest Thor we’ve ever been.’ And I paused for a second and thought, we’ve done three together and you’ve always been huge…I was like, ‘What are you talking about?’ and he goes, ‘Nope, let’s take it to another level.’ ”
The actor’s dedication to improving his already perfect physique is seen in the film, with more attention given to his body in a scene where he is shirtless again. Many bodybuilders have claimed that his physique matched that of professional-level bodybuilders.
Having to match the massive physique of Thor himself is hard, and what is harder is having to match the massive physique and do all the stunts. Chris Hemsworth’s stunt double Bobby Holland Hanton mentioned the tiring yet inspiring regime that he had to go through to make sure he matched the physique of Chris Hemsworth.
The noted stuntman mentioned to Ice36 that he had to always work very hard to make sure he looked like Hemsworth,
“I’ve always had to work double hard to try and get anywhere near his height – he is 6ft 4 and I’m 6ft 1, I have to wear 2-inch lifts in my shoes to get near his height – and I train like a mad man to get anywhere near his physicality…It’s actually inspiring because it made me work harder, it made him work harder and we both got into the best physical shape we’ve ever been in.”
Hanton also revealed that he had to eat ten meals a day to make sure he bulked up properly for the role and had even eaten chicken wings at midnight to meet his quota of calories per day.
