Natalie Portman to show 'goofy' side in Thor: Love and Thunder

Taika Waititi has promised to show Natalie Portman's "goofy" side in 'Thor: Love and Thunder'.

The 40-year-old actress is reprising her role as Jane Foster, who is now Mighty Thor, in the upcoming superhero blockbuster and the filmmaker was keen for her to take on a much bigger role than she has had in previous films in the franchise and wanted to play to her strengths.

He told Empire magazine: “You don’t want Natalie coming back and playing that same character who’s walking around with science equipment. You know, while Thor’s flying around, she’s left on Earth, tapping her foot going, ‘When’s he going to be back?’ That’s boring. You want her to be part of the adventure.

“Natalie’s really funny in real life. She’s kind of goofy and has got a great sense of humour, and I don’t think that was exploited enough in the first films."

And the director teased that seeing Jane again after a long separation will be a "mindf***" for Chris Hemsworth's Thor.

He explained: “It’s been about eight years. She’s had a whole other life, and then the love of your life comes back on the scene, and is now dressed like you. It’s a real mindf*** for Thor.”

Natalie left the series after 'Thor: The Dark World'' and Taika admitted he hadn't originally planned for her to return until he started plotting a story for the new film.

He said: “I didn’t know we were going to use the storyline of the Mighty Thor character until we started working out the actual story.

“I was writing and it was like, ‘Wouldn’t it be kind of cool to bring Jane back into the storyline?' ”