Christian Bale talks about how his role in Thor: Love and Thunder could have been even darker. The Academy Award-winning actor is known for his dedication to character and intimidating acting styles. Most famously, Bale made news for roles in American Psycho and The Machinist by going through painstaking weight-loss measures. Even in high profile roles, especially in movies directed by Christopher Nolan culminating in his Batman trilogy, Bale has always been serious about character and pushing the limits of what is expected from acting, even in franchise blockbusters.
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To this end, when Bale took the role of Gorr the God-Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, many were surprised that he would choose to embark on an MCU project. Though the MCU has let great actors such as Ben Kingsley, Anthony Hopkins, Cate Blanchett, and Tilda Swinton truly focus on character despite supporting roles, the void between The Dark Knight and some of the more spectacle-reliant MCU films was truly great. Ultimately, Bale's performance as Gorr is one of the highlights of Thor: Love and Thunder, and his acting prowess sold the character's grief-turned-wrath, which powered the entire film. However, there existed a possibility of Bale going even further with the character.
Talking to Inverse, Bale speaks about his work as Gorr in Thor: Love and Thunder, and reveals that audiences could have seen a more R-rated take on the character. The actor, who is currently doing press for his upcoming film Amsterdam, speaks about the trust director Taika Waititi put in him. He also mentions the free range he had to push the limits of the film's PG-13 rating, even with the knowledge that most of these efforts would be cut from the final film. Read the full excerpt below:
With Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika and me, we kind of knew that some of the stuff we were doing probably wouldn't end up in the film, but we wanted to just push it and see. Ultimately, it is and should be a film that all the family can go and enjoy. And Chris Hemsworth, a couple of times he looked at me it was like, 'Dude, that's a little too far. I don't think anyone's gonna want to see that unless it's an R-rated film.' But it was a great joy to give it a shot. And we had a lot of fun in there doing certain scenes and takes on certain scene choices, even if they didn't end up in the final cut.
Why Bale Wanted to Push the Limits of the MCU
Despite a lot of Bale's wilder ideas for Gorr not making the cut, it speaks to Bale's desire to go the extra mile and lift performances where other actors wouldn't care as much. Aside from Bale's numerous weight losses and gains for roles (culminating in a weight gain for 2018's Vice that gave him a heart attack), he has always been selective with choosing roles. His insistence on method acting has provided realism to true-story films like American Hustle and Ford vs. Ferrari, and his dedication to staying in character came to light in a notorious incident on the set of 2009's Terminator Salvation.
Therefore, even if Bale knew some of his actions as Gorr would be in vain, he at least wanted to push the MCU to allow for more dynamic performances. Despite its wide popularity, many people have criticized MCU productions for not taking risks (Thor: Love and Thunder ironically being one of them) and playing it safe in order to gain a wider audience. At the same time, stories have come out about great actors such as Willem Dafoe working with Marvel boss Kevin Feige on his character for Spider-Man: No Way Home, and ensuring that actors don't get to sleepwalk through roles on MCU films. Bale's work with Waititi was clearly trying to emulate this kind of trust in actors. Hopefully, Bale's work on Thor: Love and Thunder can pave the way for similar freedom for great actors on the set of future Marvel projects.