'Thor: Ragnarok' & 'In the Heart of the Sea' star Chris Hemsworth on his weight loss: he had mood swings!

• comments
• 
• 

Ron Howard's Moby Dick-inspired film "In the Heart of the Sea" finally drifts into theaters this Friday, Dec. 11, and the movie's star, Chris Hemsworth opens up to People about the massive weight loss he had to undergo to become First Mate Owen Chase. The 32-year-old father of three admitted that the first person who had to deal with his erratic mood swings thanks to his new diet was his wife, actress Elsa Pataky.

"She had to put up with my moods, unfortunately," Hemsworth admitted. "She's great. I'd kind of done it before in 'Rush' but not to this extreme. By the end of it, she was happy for me to start eating again."

New York Daily News reports that the "Avengers" actor had to drop about 40 lbs off his solid 215, to make it to a skinny 175 lbs. In an interview with Good Morning America, Hemsworth said that besides boiled eggs, his diet during filming the movie was "nothing much."

"The gaining is fine, you just eat a lot and you lift weights but that was underfed, which led to a pretty moody existence and inconsistent emotions," he said, and credits his wife for being very supportive throughout the whole ordeal.

The 39-year-old Spanish actress is best known for her role as Elena Neves in "Fast Five", "Fast & Furious 6", and "Furious 7", and wed the "Thor" actor in Christmas 2010 after dating earlier in the year. The pair has three children, a daughter named Rose born in 2012, and twin boys Tristan and Sasha born last year.

Hemsworth also shared that after they wrapped production on the film, "We went to an Italian restaurant and had all sorts of pasta and pizza and all the wrong things. It gave me a bit of a food hangover to honest with you. I hadn't eaten anything like that for a while."

Howard spoke to Playboy about creating the film and how he envisioned the actors to transform into starving castaways. He said, "I was careful in the interview process to be clear about my expectations."

"I had to crack the whip with a couple of people early on, but Chris Hemsworth, Ben Walker, and Cillian Murphy were so committed that if anybody had needed disciplining, these guys would have taken care of it," Howard explained. He also admitted to taking Tom Hanks' advice on the weight loss requirement for a role, as the actor had also done so himself for roles in "Philadelphia" and "Cast Away".

"He told me how miserable he felt having to do it alone, so I should make it a team thing for the guys," Howard explained. "He advised us to make sure the dietitians and trainers were there and to make sure there was a good aftercare program for gaining back the lost weight."