While Thor: Love and Thunder revealed several storylines that could be further explored in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, one was particularly on display in the film’s first tag. In it, Ted Lasso standout actor Brett Goldstein appeared teasingly as the Greek God and son of Zeus, Hercules. In an interview with The Playlist, the actor opened up about how his casting was almost as much of a surprise to him as his reveal was for the audience:
“No, I didn’t know what it was for. I was told that some Marvel people would like to have a Zoom with you, and I met with them, and it was just so surreal because…it was literally out of the blue one night, and I was very busy, and it was like, ‘Can you make time for a Zoom?’ ‘Yes, sure.’ And they go on Zoom, and they just told me what you see in the film, which is the sort of opened with, ‘So Russell Crowe is Zeus,’ and I’m like, ‘Yeah, OK, go on.’ And blah, blah, blah. And then they turn around, and they reveal, ‘It’s Hercules; it’s you.’ And I went, ‘What?’ Just like, ‘Are you serious? Are you f**king with me? Is this a wind-up?’ So yeah, it was as surprising to me as I think it has been to other people.”
Brett Goldstein
Goldstein went on to reveal that he had to shoot his cameo two weeks after he was offered the part. While that could certainly be a rush for anyone, the actor was particularly concerned about how little time he had to get in shape for the role of a Greek God. He said:
“…when I spoke to Taika, I said, ‘You know I’m basically like a skinny comedian?’ I said, ‘When is this filming?’ It was like in two weeks, and I was like, ‘I mean, I’ll do my best, but two weeks feels …’ I said, ‘He doesn’t have to be as big as Thor, does he?’ And look, on the day, I mean, I’m doing 400 pushups that day. I was fit to explode. I did the best I could on that day, yeah.”
Brett Goldstein
Thor: Love and Thunder is currently playing in theaters.
Source: The Playlist
