Christian Bale explained his choice not to method act for his role in Thor: Love and Thunder. Bale has starred in many other notable roles, such as Batman in The Dark Knight, Patrick Bateman in American Psycho, and Dick Cheney in Vice. While Bale has no formal acting experience, he is famous for taking method acting to the extreme. Bale has been known to physically prepare for his roles by excessively gaining or losing weight in a short time, as well as mentally training himself by taking on another character's mind.
SCREENRANT VIDEO OF THE DAY
Bale played Gorr the God Butcher, the main antagonist of Thor: Love and Thunder. Gorr desires to kill all the Gods after Rapu, the God Gorr and his daughter believed in, paid him no mind as Gorr was dying of dehydration. Taking up the Necrosword, an evil sword capable of striking the Gods down, Gorr seeks out Gods to destroy. Meanwhile, he simultaneously searches for the cosmic being Eternity, an entity that will grant him one wish if he finds it. Gorr initially wants to wish for the death of all gods, but with encouragement from Thor and Jane, he ends up wishing for a second chance at life for his daughter, who died at the beginning of the movie.
In an interview with GQ Magazine, Christian Bale explained his reasoning behind not method acting for Thor: Love and Thunder. According to Bale, filming was monotonous, and he often didn't know what he was doing. He also seems to have struggled with his costume and makeup, leading to many distractions. For these reasons, he saw no point in method acting for Gorr. See what Bale said below:
That would've been a pitiful attempt to do that. As I'm trying to get help getting the fangs in and out and explaining I've broken a nail, or I'm tripping over the tunic.
Bale's Comments Suggest A Rough Time On Set
It seems like he did not enjoy his time on Thor: Love and Thunder as much as in Bale's other films. While he notes that the people on the project were incredible to work with, the actual filming was very repetitive and green screen heavy. Bale did not have the time in this Marvel film to prepare himself to play Gorr as a character as he was busy with the logistics of costuming, design, and filming.
Bale's mindset on filming for this project is starkly different from other films he has worked on – heavily implying that it was not the experience he thought it would be. He notes that he felt enthusiastic about working on this project after seeing Thor: Ragnarok, but soon after starting filming for Thor: Love and Thunder, Bale realized that this type of filming was not for him. Even though Gorr died at the end of Thor: Love and Thunder, it does not appear Bale would want to return to the MCU even if he could.