‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: Taika Waititi Explains Why He Was ‘Anxious’ About Working With Christian Bale and Russell Crowe
Christian Bale and Russell Crowe are two actors who are known for their committed performances. They both have the mindset of “go big or go home” and deliver many intense but amazing performances. The two actors appear in Thor: Love and Thunder under the helm of director Taika Waititi. While working with these two award-winning actors on the latest Thor is exciting, Taika Waititi says he was “anxious” to work with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe.
Christian Bale and Russell Crowe join the Marvel universe in ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
Bale and Crowe are no strangers to appearing in superhero movies. Both actors have been a part of the DC universe. Bale played Batman in Christopher Nolan’s Dark Knight trilogy while Crowe played Jor-El in Man of Steel. Now, both actors are making their debuts in the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Bale is taking on the role of Gorr the God Butcher, a villainous character who is on a mission to kill the gods. One god he will be encountering is Zeus, played by Crowe. Bale is going to have a much larger role as the more terrifying and sinister foe for Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to battle. Crowe’s role is a lot smaller, but it could be more impactful going forward as Marvel is now introduced to the Greek gods.
Taika Waititi was anxious about working with Bale and Crowe
Taika Waititi has worked with many famous actors in his movies, but he was worried about working with Bale and Crowe on Thor: Love and Thunder due to their history of doing “method-y” acting. In an interview with Rolling Stone, Waititi explains why he was initially “anxious” to work with them, but ended up enjoying the experience.
“I, too, thought that Christian was going to be like a very … you hear stories about actors who are Method-y and they really take it seriously,” Waititi said. “And I am just used to working with my friends where we have a very casual way of working together, we give each other a lot of shit and it’s like being with the family. So I would say that I was a little anxious to work with Christian and Russell Crowe. But I’d say out of all of the actors, those were the two biggest sweethearts I’ve ever worked with. No problems, no ego.”
It is true that many actors have a reputation of taking themselves very seriously. However, it could be based on the type of project they’re involved with and Waititi loves to keep things casual and fun.
Waititi always brings out entertaining performances
In all of his projects, Waititi creates hilarious performances from his cast, whether it’s a direct comedy or a serious drama. Movies like What We Do in the Shadows and Thor: Ragnarok show off how funny he can get actors to be while movies like Jojo Rabbit show that the director still has more of a serious side.
Either way, it’s great that Taika Waititi had his expectations for the latest Thor tempered after working with Christian Bale and Russell Crowe. It’s good to know that they’re sweeter than their tough exteriors show.
Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in theaters on July 8.
