Chris Hemsworth on Graham Norton: ‘My crazy diet would make you pass out from exhaustion’

Chris Hemsworth shocked Twitter in November by posting a photo of himself looking like we’d never seen him before.

The Australian actor, best known for playing the hunky thunder god Thor in the Avengers, lost huge amounts of his bulk for new film In The Heart of the Sea, a true story in which his character is stranded at sea after while boat is destroyed by a whale.

Speaking on the Graham Norton Show, Hemsworth revealed that the weight loss was as dangerous as it looks.

“It was a crazy diet,” he revealed. “Sometimes when ‘cut’ was called you would literally pass out from exhaustion.”

Hemsworth described working on the film as “the most physically challenging thing to do.”

Now back to his regular frame, it’s not long before he’ll be wielding hammer Mjolnir again as Thor – a role which he says changed his life.

“It got me a job and I was able to pay the rent, which was nice and it opened up every opportunity in my career,” the actor said.

Also appearing on Norton’s red sofa were In The Heart of the Sea director Ron Howard, actress Lily Tomlin, who spoke about her critically-acclaimed new film Grandma, Scottish comedian Kevin Bridges, and a live performance from Shirley Bassey and Blake.

BBC One, 10.35pm

The Australian actor dramatically lost weight for real-life Moby Dick drama