Christian Bale’s portrayal of Gorr the God Butcher is terrifyingly menacing in “Thor: Love and Thunder.”
Bale was apparently so convincing as the butcher that costar Natalie Portman, who returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as Dr. Jane Foster, said he scared the many kids on set.
“It was terrifying whenever he was in character,” Portman told Total Film, adding, “The children would run screaming.”
“He has a very, very, very scary look, in addition to, of course, his excellent acting. But, on this one, in between, he’d be like, ‘Hey, what’s up?’ It was just a normal conversation, which was jarring, because he looked terrifying,” Portman said of Bale as Gorr.
Marvel Studios
According to Bale, it took the Academy Award winner four hours every morning to be transformed into the Marvel villain. He told Total Film that he originally thought he would be in a motion-capture suit.
“I thought it was going to be like, stick a few dots on my face and roll up,” Bale said. “Maybe embarrassingly in a grey unitard, but alright, I could deal with that. I enjoy humiliation.”
“And then I missed the conversation,” he added. “You’ve got a 2 a.m. call. And then it was like, ‘Oh, no, I’m sitting for four hours, doing prosthetics.’ Somehow, I hadn’t heard that.”
Courtesy of Marvel Studios
In the film, the Gorr vows vengeance on all gods after his own deity fails to help him in his time of need.
While Bale is as terrifying as Portman suggests on-screen, Bale’s role probably could’ve been even scarier.
In an interview with Entrevista, Bale said he filmed scenes with Peter Dinklage, who plays Eitri in the MCU, and Jeff Goldblum, who played the Grandmaster in “Thor: Ragnarok.”
Bale didn’t say what occurred in the cut scenes, but it’s believed fans would’ve seen Gorr kill both characters on-screen.
“Thor: Love and Thunder” is now playing in theaters. You can read our review here.