Murphy's Multiverse

Tag: Love and Thunder

  • ‘Thor 4’s Gorr Design Was Changed to Avoid ‘Harry Potter’ Comparison

    ‘Thor 4’s Gorr Design Was Changed to Avoid ‘Harry Potter’ Comparison

    There isn’t a day that Twitter and Social Media are ablaze with discussions on just how accurate the adaptations of Marvel Studios’ latest venture are. As the studio has always taken liberties with designs, it has hit a new fever pitch with Thor: Love and Thunder‘s Gorr the God Butcher. There have been many theories on why they changed him to a more humanoid design and it turns out the reasoning is quite simple.

    In an interview with IGN, director Taika Waititi revealed that Love and Thunder‘s design for Gorr was changed due to the similarities with Harry Potter‘s Voldemort. So, they wanted to avoid people making the connection and kept the focus on what made the character iconic, the sword and his story.

    His face in the comics, unfortunately, does kind of resemble Voldemort. So I was like ‘people are just automatically going to make that connection.’ So we decided to depart from that design and sort of keep elements of the tone, and the fact that he had the sword. Really, it was his story that was the most important thing for us

    Taika Waititi

    They definitely took a different direction with the design, especially with how he kept his nose. Yet, it does seem strange they wouldn’t want him to be more alien considering his origins in the comics. There’s a chance they took a more humanoid direction due to how he connects to the Gods. With his clothes, he may even be part of the Greek pantheon’s new home world that led to this very connection being made. Whatever it may be, we may know more in just a few more days.

    Source: IGN via The Direct

  • Christian Bale on Why He Was the Perfect Choice for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’s Gorr the God Butcher

    Christian Bale on Why He Was the Perfect Choice for ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’s Gorr the God Butcher

    Many wondered what magic director Taika Waititi pulled off to convince Christian Bale to once again return to the world of comic book adaptations. He gave us an iconic version of Batman in Christopher Nolan‘s iconic The Dark Knight Trilogy and has now set his eyes on giving us what could potentially become Marvel Studios’ best villain yet in Gorr the God Butcher.

    Now, the question is on how they decided that Bale was the perfect choice to bring the character to life. Funny enough, he got a chance to answer that very question and pretty much highlighted that the goal was for him to bring a character to life that is the perfect opposite of Chris Hemsworth, though he also has some fun with the answer during the official press conference.

    I think, you know, you were talking about what everyone was looking for in Chris. I think in Gorr, they look for an actor polar opposite.  Someone not relatable, a bit of a loner, creepy, someone no one wants to be around, and nobody wants to see his ass.  And so, I think they went, “Yeah, we found it in Bale.”

    Christian Bale

    The aspect of Gorr being a “loner, creepy, someone no one wants to be around” is a rather curious reveal and likely his approach to the character from the approach. His design as revealed int he second trailer definitely hints at Bale‘s take on Gorr being more of a loner, whose storyline may connect to the romantic comedy aspect that the franchise is going for. Still, Bale certainly sounded like he had some fun with his response even if it may offer our first real glimpse on how he approached bringing the character to life on the silver screen.

  • Christian Bale on Experimenting With His Take on Gorr the God Butcher While Filming ‘Thor 4’

    Christian Bale on Experimenting With His Take on Gorr the God Butcher While Filming ‘Thor 4’

    Christian Bale‘s take on Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder is definitely a new take of the character that was made famous in a recent Thor run where he would make good his commitment to killing gods. When we got our first look at Bale‘s design, we were surprised at how different he looked and it seems that Bale got a chance to also experiment with bringing this version of the character to life during the official press conference for Thor: Love and Thunder.

    Loved it, you know, because you don’t really know exactly what you’re doing with a character like that..until you see it completely, it’s in your imagination.  And we didn’t have that long, you know, we talked about it during quarantine and, you know, in an abstract way.  But then put it on, and it worked out all right. This was a pious man with tattoos and he’s cut those off, and so would have all those scars.  And that’s when you really get to start playing with it and experiment as you film.  You know, you discover it as you go.

    Christian Bale

    The “experiment as you film” aspect also fits nicely into how director Taika Waititi generally approaches his projects. He’s known for being quite a bit more inventive during production and even Natalie Portman pointed to him throwing out the script on some days. So, it also seemingly gave Bale a fun position to experiment and try out how he’ll bring the character while filming the Marvel project. So, we’ll see how the dynamic filming style may have also led to one of Marvel Studios’ most creative entries.

  • ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Actor Confirms Scenes With Peter Dinklage and Jeff Goldblum Were Cut

    ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ Actor Confirms Scenes With Peter Dinklage and Jeff Goldblum Were Cut

    One of the fun things about the Marvel Cinematic Universe is that you never know who ends up crossing paths. It turns out that Christian Bale‘s run as Gorr the God Butcher, who he plays in Thor: Love and Thunder, originally included scenes featuring the return of Peter Dinklage and Jeff Goldblum. The former made his first appearance in Avengers: Infinity War where he played the dwarf Eitri while the latter made his MCU debut in Thor: Ragnarok as the leader of Sakaar. Sadly, it seems they didn’t make it into the film.

    In an interview with Prensaescenario, Bale talked about some scenes that sadly got cut along the way, and it looks like after previously being reported to joining the production, they may have filmed a few more scenes. Luckily, this scenario may be similar to the one with the 616 Mordo where he was going to be killed at the hands of Wanda. They may have had plans for the characters moving forward and didn’t want to just lose them in one fell swoop with Gorr’s god-killing rampage.

    Sadly, we might never see these sequences but they could include them on the digital and physical release. Yet, if they are completely avoiding these sequences to imply something, they may just skip them altogether. Who knows why they were left out, as Taika Waititi is also known for a very spontaneous directing style that may have led to the sequences not being added to the final product.

    You can watch the interview here:

    Source: YouTube

  • Natalie Portman Reveals Entire Planets Cut From ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Natalie Portman Reveals Entire Planets Cut From ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Thor: Love and Thunder will undoubtedly be a big movie, but star Natalie Portman says it could have been even bigger. While speaking with Collider, the former Phantom Menace actress revealed the creative behind the God of Thunder’s next outing had entire sequences axed from the project’s final cut.

    Of course, this isn’t a unique scenario. Films typically go through a multitude of changes during production, and big blockbusters like Thor are often tinkered with right up until the last minute. It likely didn’t help that the upcoming Marvel sequel stems from the wild mind of Taika Waititi, who has probably never been short on ideas in his entire career.

    Worry not, however, as Portman seems confident the movie would have been stellar no matter what did or didn’t make it in. The Mighty Thor performer explained that everything Waititi created for the film was brilliant, even if he did have to cut entire planets from the runtime:

    The joy and the sorrow of a Taika Waititi project is that he creates so much brilliance and so much material that the movie could be like an infinite number of things. And it like inevitably means that incredible, hilarious, moving comedy and drama ends up not there. So, there’s a lot. I mean, there’s full planets that are not there anymore.

    Natalie Portman

    Like any good fan, Portman knows there’s a chance the world could still see these lost scenes one day. She continued to explain that she’s got her hopes up for a jam-packed collection of DVD extras:

    I pray that it’ll end up in like a DVD extra somewhere or that it comes out somewhere. Because I mean, yeah, it’s pretty remarkable stuff.

    Natalie Portman

    While the thought of full planets floating somewhere in the abyss of cut material is enticing, it sounds like fans should really be excited for what they’ll actually get to see on July 8th. If whole alien worlds are considered less important to the story than what’s been included, imagine just how exhilarating the final product could be.

    Source: Collider

  • Taika Waititi On How Guns N’ Roses Inspired ‘Love and Thunder’

    Taika Waititi On How Guns N’ Roses Inspired ‘Love and Thunder’

    Like the Guardians of the Galaxy films before it, Taika Waititi’s Thor films are a few of a handful of MCU films defined by their music. Whereas Thor: Ragnarok takes its cue from Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song, Thor: Love and Thunder draws inspiration from Guns N’ Roses’ Sweet Child of Mine.

    During the film’s global press conference, Waititi revealed why the song spoke to him when making the film.

    We just wanted to spend as much money as we possibly could on some songs.  It’s always been a dream of mine.  The whole aesthetic around the film was always we wanted it to be this bombastic, loud, colorful palette, which kind of reflected, like, spray-painted panel vans in the eighties and rock album covers.  And, even the title treatment for the film, it’s the kind of thing I would’ve drawn on my school book in class when I wasn’t listening. I remember spending, you know, months and months perfecting the Metallica logo at school.  So yeah, and just to tap into all that stuff and Guns N’ Roses, was like one of my all-time favorite bands.  And to be able to us that stuff to reflect, you know, the sort of crazy adventure that we’re presenting visually, was another one of my dreams that came true.  

    The track is being heavily featured in the film’s marketing campaign and may very well make an appearance in the actual film. Should Waititi continue to wrap up his own Thor trilogy, it would be great to see him dip into the sounds of the 90s. Perhaps embrace the darker, heavy metal side of Thor. Norway is the home of Thor’s mythology, which also happens to be ground zero for some of metal’s heaviest bands.

  • Chris Hemsworth Reveals His “Favorite Villain” in the MCU

    Chris Hemsworth Reveals His “Favorite Villain” in the MCU

    Through three solo adventures in the MCU, Thor has more often than not found himself facing off with members of his family as primary antagonists. Thor: The Dark World featured Malekith and Kurse, but even there Loki’s machinations featured prominently in the story. Thor: Love and Thunder breaks free of that pattern, bringing one of Thor’s most terrifying villains from Marvel Comics into the MCU: Gorr the God Butcher, played by Academy Award-winning actor Christian Bale. And according to Hemsworth, Bale’s work with the character was so special that he became Hemsworth’s favorite MCU villain.

    He’s my favorite villain in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, and I love everyone I’ve worked with, but this was particularly special.  And a lot to do with what Christian said before, there’s this empathic quality there, there’s a vulnerability.  You kind of find yourself going, oh what’s he’s doing is wrong, but I get the sort of motivation behind it.  And every time you work with someone different, different characters that bring different things out of you, and that was the case here.  And yeah, he did an incredible job. 

    Chris Hemsworth

    It’s high praise indeed, given that Hemsworth’s Thor faced off against his brother, played brilliantly by Tom Hiddleston, his sister Hela and, most notably Thanos, who sent the god of thunder down a dark path. It’s hardly surprising that Bale delivers big in his performance, however, because he’s never been known to mail in a performance. Audiences won’t have long to wait to see where Gorr fits on their lists of favorite MCU villains as Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8th.

  • Christian Bale on His Gorr the God Butcher Not Being Comic-Accurate in ‘Thor 4’

    Christian Bale on His Gorr the God Butcher Not Being Comic-Accurate in ‘Thor 4’

    There have been quite a few discussions surrounding why Thor: Love and Thunder moved away from Gorr the God Butcher’s iconic comic design. Many theorized that having Christian Bale involved with the project was one of the decisions, but the actor now offered some insight during the press tour on how they approached the design, most notably due to Bale‘s restrictions after wrapping up another project.

    Yeah, I was coming off of a film where it had been necessary to be sort of rather lacking in muscle. And then I saw the images and thought: “Well, that’s not going to be possible. And this G-string that#s going on there.” He looked in the comic books like physically a, you know, someone to reckon with Thor. And I said: “Well, you know that’s just not going to be possible in the state I’m in.

    Christian Bale

    He goes on to highlight that he only had three days between productions, which is the result of COVID. We’ve seen with many productions that they had less prep time and with VFX houses slammed, it’s not easy for these productions to somehow get their projects out in a meaningful way; which Marvel Studios has found a balance to work with.

    And so we said: “Alright, now we’ll go with the supernatural powers that he does have that he gets from the Necrosword etc, which I think works really effectively.

    He also highlighted that the G-string was already decided not to be part of the film before Bale even sat down with director Taika Waititi. So, it seems that they’ve already decided on some aspects of the design before he joined, but also adapted to his thinner frame due to his previous project. It once again highlights how these productions are far more complicated and also have to adapt when they adapt talent, especially ones as big as Christian Bale.

    Source: Twitter

  • Taika Waititi on the Unexpected Love Triangle in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Taika Waititi on the Unexpected Love Triangle in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    It’s clear that there were no restraints placed on the creative mind of Taika Waititi during the production of Thor: Love and Thunder. If the promotional footage from the trailers have shown fans anything, it’s that the fourth Thor installment will be the Odinson’s wildest ride yet as his former flame, Jane Foster, comes crashing back into his life as a Thor of her own.

    Part of the mystery of Jane’s return is clearly tied to another of Thor’s loves: his hammer, Mjolnir. Destroyed by his sister, Hela, in Thor: Ragnarok, Mjolnir is back in Love and Thunder, and, as has been seen in the trailers, apparently more fond of Jane than the Odinson. In Mjolnir’s absence, of course, Thor had a new weapon, Stormbreaker, forged for him with the help of Eitri and a helping hand from Groot. During the global press conference for Thor: Love and Thunder, Waititi explained that because Stormbreaker’s handle is part of Groot, it was going to have some feelings about Mjolnir coming back into Thor’s life.

    Yeah. And Stormbreaker, I don’t know if this is the way anyone else thought about it, but you gotta remember Stormbreaker’s made of Groot’s arm. Well, you know, the handle is. And so Groot was like a teenager when he did that. So we felt like Stormbreaker was a young wif and had only just been born about five or six years ago. So it had to feel a little bit like an adolescent and it was like it was going through changes.

    Taika Waititi

    Reading between the lines, it appears that Waititi has indeed written a love triangle into Thor: Love and Thunder, though not one fans of the MCU saw coming, but rather one between a thunder god and his two weapons.

    Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters on July 8th.

  • Taika Waititi Struggled Balancing ‘Our Flag Means Death’ and Editing ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Taika Waititi Struggled Balancing ‘Our Flag Means Death’ and Editing ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’

    Taika Waititi has been quite busy as of late. Besides producing various projects, he’s also been trying to get some projects going that sadly wouldn’t move forward, like a live-action Akira but ended up focusing on directing Thor: Love and Thunder. Yet, he was also involved in playing Blackbeard in the HBO Max series Our Flag Means Death. Turns out, he may have overestimated the projects after all and ended up editing while still in costume.

    In an interview with SlashFilm, the Love and Thunder director talked about it being the first project where he was asked to take on the role. It seems that David Jenkins had him in mind when creating the seris’ take on Blackbeard, and somehow they made it work out that he was able to take on the role.

    This is one of the rare occasions where I didn’t put myself in my own thing; someone else asked me to do it. David Jenkins wrote Blackbeard with me in mind and, at first, I was just too busy to do it. But with some shuffling of schedules, we were able to do it, which was great because I really wanted to play the role. I would have been really bummed out if I had missed out on it.

    Taika Waititi

    He highlights how he would end up editing the project at night after playing Blackbeard

    I was Blackbeard by day and then was editing ‘Thor’ by night and doing various other things. I was trying to work from set with the shaggy hair and the beard. It was a management nightmare, but we pulled it off and it was probably one of my favorite roles that I’ve played because it’s something I didn’t have to write so I could bring a lot of myself to it.

    Taika Waititi

    The irony of two unique love stories overlapping production is a curious fate, but it may have helped develop them. While he does call it a “management nightmare” it seems that he certainly is passionate about both projects. So, we’re the lucky ones to get to see him bring Blackbeard to life and Love and Thunder.

    Source: SlashFilm