Many actors have found it difficult to work in greenscreen studios and act around landscapes and characters that just aren’t there. Christian Bale experienced a fair amount of green screen work while playing Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder, and it’s not unfair to say he hated the experience. Having previously worked on many “real” films, Bale has not often been found in green screen locations, and that proved to be “the definition of monotony” for the Academy Award winner.
Thor: Love and Thunder produced some amazing worlds that were visually created using CGI and added to the film in post-production, leaving the actors mostly working in green and blue screen studios with no idea where to go. Although some Marvel productions have taken advantage of The Volume, a studio that comes with LED screens that can put actors in computer-generated worlds and remove the use of the green screen. For Bale, however, it was all a classic green screen Thor: Love and Thunder, and he really didn’t feel comfortable with it. Bale told GQ:
“That’s the first time I’ve done that. I mean, its definition is monotonous. You have good people. You have other actors who have a lot more experience in it than I do. Can you tell one day from another? No. Absolutely not. You have no idea what to do. I couldn’t even distinguish one phase from the other. They kept saying, “You’re on stage three.” Well, it’s like, “Which one is that?” “The blue one.” They say, “Yes. But you are on stage seven.” “Which one is that?” “The blue one.” I was like, “Uh, where?”
Christian Bale found it easier to play Gorr than Batman
Despite his apparent dislike of the green screen, Christian Bale found playing Gorr a much easier experience than playing his iconic superhero role of Batman, mainly because of the way audiences react to movie villains. He previously said:
“They do, absolutely. Not only do they have more fun, but they are also easier to play. Because everyone is fascinated by bad guys, right? The moment the bad guy walks onto the screen, no one is looking at the good guy anymore. All eyes are on the bad guy, so it’s a much easier acting gig.”
Christian Bale is one of the most highly regarded actors to enter the MCU, and while his take on Gorr wasn’t the monstrous creature featured in the comic books, he certainly was a star for his relatively short screen time. Throughout his career, Bale has gotten a taste of playing heroes as well as villains, and even some who sit on a teetering fence between the two, but when it comes to his MCU appearance, he certainly had no problem re-imagining the to become a villain.
Thor: Love and Thunder is currently streaming on Disney+ and is available for purchase on DVD and Blu-ray.