"It was hugely enjoyable for me," Cate Blanchett says of her full-body lycra costume in Thor: Ragnarok

Not all celebrities look forward to wearing unforgiving, full-body lycra, but Cate Blanchett welcomed the challenge for her villainous role as Hela Goddess of Death in Thor: Ragnarok.

“It was hugely enjoyable for me,” Blanchett told reporters recently in Los Angeles. “And apart from working with these guys [her cast members and director Taika Waititi], the chance to finally, in my deep middle age, to get fit and to wear that much lycra was really exciting for me.”

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Image zoom Cate Blanchett in Thor: Ragnarok REX/Shutterstock

How did she pull it off?

“I worked with Chris [Hemsworth’s] trainer, Luke Zocchi, for 20 minutes a day, which doesn’t sound like much, but my god, it was intense. And Zoe Bell, who is an extraordinary actress and director in her own right. But I was blessed every day with the fact that she was my stunt double.”

Blanchett says that Bell — a renowned stunt woman for Quentin Tarantino films like Kill Bill and Inglourious Basterds, TV’s Alias and Xena: Warrior Princess — helped her master the movement of the character, particularly when it came to pretending to throw Hela’s powerful weapons.

Image zoom Cate Blanchett and Taika Waititi Marvel/Disney/Kobal/REX/Shutterstock

“When I started, I had to manifest these weapons and I had to throw them,” she explained. “And I could see Taika’s disappointment as I threw it, I said, ‘Ha.’ And I had to stop making the noises, because I’d go, ‘Ha.’ And so I had to close my mouth.

“And so eventually Zoe suggested that I put some sugar, which was deeply humiliating, sugar packets in my hand so at least I could throw something and be real. So Zoe helped me with little things like that. She was a great action director. So I moved from the humiliating to the exhilarating in a matter of five days.”