‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ — Tessa Thompson on Playing King of Asgard; Christian Bale Didn’t Know What the MCU Was
As part of Total Film Magazine‘s new cover issue, focused on the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, the magazine had the chance to interview some of the main actors from the movie, including lead actor Chris Hemsworth (Thor), main villain Christian Bale (Gorr the God Butcher), and co-lead actress Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie).
First, Tessa Thompson explained what her King of Asgard is like, and also clarified that there the word “king” does not mean any gender fluidity for Valkyrie:
“I think she’s very egalitarian. She’s a kind king. I know there’s been some confusion on the internet in terms of the gendering with her being king. The truth is, that’s the job that Thor was going to do, and then he just gave her the job, and we just didn’t bother to change the title, because the title is ‘king’, and she’s like, ‘Well, I can be king.’ The suits that she wears – we thought it was sort of a fun nod to Frida Kahlo.”
About what it’s like for her to rule Asgard, Thompson said the following:
“She likes it. She feels slightly less enchanted with the bureaucratic elements of New Asgard. It’s really been put on the map by the events that have happened in past movies, so it’s also become this sort of tourist destination. I think she feels entirely proud. The thing about Asgard that’s always been true is, it’s not a place, it’s its people.”
When asked what inspired his take on the character, Christian Bale said the following:
“Mostly hearing Taika’s [Waititi, director] thoughts on it. There’s obviously sort of a Nosferatu slight attitude. Taika and I wanted to do a whole dance, which we didn’t get to do, but we had all this sort of Kate Bush stuff that we worked at. But I think he just realised he was never going to be allowed to put that in the final film. I would say that the most common thing I was staring at was the Aphex Twin video of ‘Come To Daddy’. But I don’t even know if that will be in the final film.”
As comic fans have noticed, the character looks very different from what he does in the comics. This is something the actor also noticed very quickly after he did some research on him:
“You sort of go, ‘I know what he does.’ It’s right there in the name, isn’t it? But I did make the mistake of Googling him and, oh no! [In the comics] he runs around in a G-string all the time. And I thought, ‘They don’t have the right man for that!’ And then Taika quickly dispelled any notions of running around in that. But I always did think what he could do with this in front of a bluescreen – he could chuck on whatever he wants later on.”
He also added that he didn’t have any hesitation about taking on another comic-book character, after playing Bruce Wayne in three films. He dismissed that, by saying he didn’t even know what the MCU was:
“Absolutely not, no. That didn’t even enter into my head at all. I’d read that, and people would go, ‘Oh, look at this! He’s entered the MCU!’ And I’d go, ‘I’ve done what? I haven’t entered shit, thank you very much.’ I’m like, ‘The MCU?’ I had to ask what that was.”
Chris Hemsworth has now been playing the character for over ten years, and he’s still not ruling out coming back to it again. As he explained to Total Film, each time it comes down to the pitch and the script:
“Each time, if the opportunity comes up and presents itself, I’m just open to whatever creative exploration can happen, thanks to different writers and directors and so on. But I love playing the character, I really do. It always comes down to: ‘Is this script different to the last one? Are we repeating something?’ And when it becomes too familiar, I think that’s when I’d have to say, ‘Yeah, no, this doesn’t… I think I’ve…’ [Pauses and laughs] I’d like to exit before people tell me to exit.”
Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige isn’t ruling out another Thor story for now, either:
“I know this: there are many, many other Thor stories in the comics that we talk about a lot. And as we watch Chris Hemsworth continue to grow and evolve as a major acting talent, I would be excited to see how he keeps evolving this complex character.”
Thor: Love and Thunder will storm theaters worldwide on July 8. Right now, early box office projections have the movie making between $155M and $205M at the U.S. box office over its first three days.
Miguel Fernández is a Spanish student that has movies as his second passion in life. His favorite movie of all time is The Lord of the Rings, but he is also a huge Star Wars fan. However, fantasy movies are not his only cup of tea, as authors like Scorsese, Fincher, Kubrick or Hitchcock have been an obsession for him since he started to understand the language of filmmaking. He is that guy who will watch a black and white movie, just because it is in black and white.