Natalie Portman says she aims to 'impress' her kids

Actress Natalie Portman has revealed it was her kids that inspired her to return to the big screen.

In an interview with Variety, she mentioned that, "I feel like it's the phase of my career where I'm really trying to just impress my kids."

Portman stars as Mighty Thor in the newest film in the Thor franchise Thor: Love and Thunder to the delight of her children. The actress describes her kids' reaction to seeing their mother at a film set.

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"My five-year-old and my ten-year-old were so enthralled by this process, getting to visit the set and see me dressed up in a cape. It made it really cool," she said.

"You know, it's very rare that my kids are like, 'Please go to work!' Usually, it's quite the opposite."

Portman shares son Aleph, 11, and daughter Amalia, five, with her husband, choreographer Benjamin Millepied.

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The actress also shared about her drastic physical transformation for the film.

"On 'Black Swan,' I was asked to get as small as possible," she said, "Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That's an amazing challenge — and also state of mind as a woman.

"To have this reaction and be seen as big, you realize, 'Oh, this must be so different, to walk through the world like this,'" Portman says.

"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."