- It's a hell of a workout for "Deadpool and Wolverine".
Jennifer Garner (52) delivered both impressive acting and physical performance for her role in the current box office hit "Deadpool & Wolverine" (2024). To prepare for her role as anti-heroine Elektra, the mother of three underwent rigorous workouts. The Instagram video of her fitness sessions has already garnered a million likes. "I was fit, but not Marvel-fit," she revealed about the training.
"Superhero Summer"
The montage shows her jogging, swimming, and boxing. She pushed herself to box three times a week during her "superhero summer". Garner even swapped her dumbbells for pumpkins during her workouts. Additionally, she practiced wielding sais, the weapons of her film character. She and her trainers "twirled sais in the garden" and laughed about their "aching bodies".
"Besides trying to convince my kids' preschool friends that I'm secretly a ninja, I hadn't held Elektra's sais since 2004," she shared about the practice. The training paid off: by the end of the video, she's skillfully spinning the sais in her costume. She last fought with the Asian weapon in the 2005 film "Elektra".
"Like a Dream"
She clearly enjoyed herself, not just during the workouts, but also during the filming of the fight scene. Acting with her co-stars was "like a dream". "I'm proud of my friends and grateful to have been on set with them. One 'thank you' isn't enough," she gushed about her time on set.
Director Shawn Levy (56) and lead actor Ryan Reynolds (47) came up with the idea to include Elektra in the blockbuster. "They were on the set of 'The Adam Project' and they exchanged that look where they can communicate an idea, 20 pages of dialogue, or nuclear codes," she described their chemistry. There's a "crazy artistic kismet" between them.
Reynolds, besides playing Deadpool, also served as producer and co-writer of the action film. The Marvel superhero movie, according to "Variety", grossed $824 million worldwide in its first two weeks, approximately €755 million.
Garner's children must have been impressed seeing their mother's fitness transformation during her "superhero summer," as she juggled her rigorous workouts with pretending to be a ninja for their preschool friends. The training sessions with sais in the garden must have been a fun bonding activity for Garner and her trainers, celebrating their shared achievement of Elektra's elegant sai-spinning in the film.
