Did Christian Bale Have To Wear A G-String For 'Thor: Love and Thunder'?
By Favour Adegoke on July 12, 2022 at 3:00 PM EDT
Popular English actor Christian Bale recently revealed his concern after seeing his character's outfit and body requirements in "Thor: Love and Thunder." The actor played the role of Gorr the God Butcher in the recently released movie.
The 48-year-old revealed that he was given the comic before filming started, and his character's outfit gave him pause. In the comics, Gorr only had on a cape and a thin piece of underwear, a combination which didn't seem to work well for Bale.
Bale, with the help of Taika Waititi, the film's director, made some alterations to the character's design, making him less muscular and more magically powerful. Their changes, according to co-actor Natalie Portman, made the character scary enough to have children running for the hills.
Christian Bale Didn't Like Gorr's Outfit
Bale's costume or lack of it and body type for his role in "Thor: Love and Thunder" almost kept the actor from being a part of the movie.
The actor played the part of Gorr the God Butcher in the popular superhero franchise. While promoting the movie in an interview with The Wrap, Bale revealed that before playing the role, he was given the comic books by the director, Waititi, to get more insight into his character.
"I did have a look briefly and said, 'He's got a G-string on. Nobody wants to see me like that. He was also crazy musclebound in the comics. And I was in the middle of making another film where I was really quite skinny. I said, 'Dude, nobody wants to see me in a G-string," he said.
Christian Bale Couldn't Compete With Chris Hemsworth
Over the course of his acting career, Bale hasn't held back when required to change his look. From losing pounds for roles like his character in "The Machinist" in 2004 to getting buffed in 2018 while playing Dick Cheney in "Vice," Bale has always been equal to the task.
However, it seems the actor has met his match among the cast of "Thor: Love and Thunder." Besides his acting prowess, the lead actor, Chris Hemsworth, is also known for his good looks and extremely ripped physique, something Bale seemed to notice.
During the interview, the actor joked that other than the fact that his other project required him to be lean, there weren't a lot of people who could compete with Hemsworth. He said, "You can't really compete with Chris [Hemsworth] when it comes to being muscular anyway."
He Made The Villain Gorr Leaner
View this post on Instagram
To solve the problem of adding more muscle, Bale and Waititi decided to make the villain, Gorr, look more intimidating magically than physically. Actually, to the actor, they wanted him to bear a resemblance to Nosferatu or the horrifying creature from the "Come to Daddy" clip by the Aphex twins.
During an interview with Entertainment Weekly, Bale said, "So I'm gonna be skinny and have a more supernatural vibe and creepiness to it. More of a wee-wee, sort of creepy feel to it felt right."
According to ScreenRant, Gorr looked younger than the comics in the film, and a bit of the villain's backstory was altered. He also had on a draping cloak rather than the dark layered material he has on in the comics.
Natatlie Portman Said Christian Bale Looked 'Scary'
Bale and Waititi's alterations to the character seemingly paid off. The 48-year-old's co-star, Portman, talked about Gorr's look during a Total Film interview, describing it as "very, very, very scary" and claimed children would be terrified.
"The children would run screaming," the actress said. "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."
Bale's role as in villain in "Thor: Love and Thunder" marked the actor's entrance into the MCU. He previously played Batman in DC's "Batman The Dark Knight" trilogy. In another interview with Total Film, the "American Psycho" actor admitted that before his casting as Gorr, he didn't know much about the MCU.
View this post on Instagram