Thor: Love and Thunder front man Chris Hemsworth has a remark about the performance of his co-star Christian Bale.
In an interview with Disney D23 magazine, Hemsworth discussed Bale's "brilliant" portrayal of Gorr the God Butcher, and its contrast to the tone of other areas of the production. "The rest of us would be in our world of improvisation, comedy, and fun – then he'd walk on set, and we'd all look at each other and say 'Oh, my God! This is really intense. This is really scary.'"
Hemsworth also noted that while Bale's performance itself had this frightening effect, the Oscar-winning actor's demeanor was otherwise "totally normal" on set. According to Hemsworth, Bale would make conversation "about what he did over the weekend or how the surf is." Tessa Thompson, reprising her role as Valkyrie, had similar acclaim for Bale's work on the Taika Waititi-directed film. "[Bale] toed this really great line, because he needs to be terrifying, but he also needs to work in the context of our colorful, snappy, irreverent world."
Speaking further on that world created by Waititi, Hemsworth said, "We had to dig deep within Taika's brain and say 'Come on! How can we surprise, impress, and disorientate our audience?' He did it masterfully, and he gave all the actors a huge playing field to achieve that." Hemsworth also referenced their previous collaboration on Thor: Ragnarok in 2017, calling that experience the "North Star" for their approach to Love and Thunder. "If we're not enjoying it, fans are not going to enjoy it. With Taika, it's always such a fantastic, fun, enjoyable, exciting set."
Director Taika Waititi, on the heels of winning an Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay for 2019's Jojo Rabbit, has previously called Bale's performance as Gorr "very formidable," and "probably one of the best villains that Marvel's had in their films." Known for his intense career of method acting performances, Bale is no stranger to the landscape of comic book films, having famously played the DC Comics role of Bruce Wayne/Batman in Christopher Nolan's Dark Knight Trilogy from 2005-2012. However, Bale's depiction of Gorr will be his first appearance in a Marvel adaptation.
Thor: Love and Thunder, set to release theatrically on July 8, 2022, will be the 29th film in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, which began with 2008's seminal feature Iron Man.
Source: Disney D23 Magazine via The Direct