Christian Bale: Acting In Front of MCU Green Screen ‘Definition of Monotony’

Thor: Love and Thunder star Christian Bale wasn’t fussed on all that green screen.

During an interview with GQ Magazine, the Marvel actor, who played villain Gorr the God Butcher in the recent Thor sequel, explained why making a Marvel movie is so monotonous.

“That’s the first time I’ve done that,” he said. “I mean, the definition of it is monotony. You’ve got good people. You’ve got other actors who are far more experienced at it than me. Can you differentiate one day from the next? No. Absolutely not. You have no idea what to do.”

Thor: Love and Thunder debuted on July 8, 2022, and tells the story of Marvel’s Thor (Chris Hemsworth) as he attempts to find inner peace while getting to grips with the return of his ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), while also fighting off Bale’s god-killing villain.

“I’ve never quite gotten that thing from actors who I respect immensely who go like, ‘Oh, you gotta like your character,’” he explained. “And I’m like, ‘I don’t know if they’ll like him. I’m good not liking him.’”

Taking vengeance against the gods, Gorr is certainly a dogmatic villain who’s difficult to like.

But that wasn’t Bale’s main concern – instead, it sounds as though he had trouble getting through the process.

“I couldn’t even differentiate one stage from the next,” he added. “They kept saying, ‘You’re on Stage Three.’ Well, it’s like, ‘Which one is that?’ ‘The blue one.’ They’re like, ‘Yeah. But you’re on Stage Seven.’ ‘Which one is that?’ ‘The blue one.’ I was like, ‘Uh, where?’”

Bale is perhaps best known for suiting up as Batman in The Dark Knight trilogy, so this certainly isn’t his first foray into comic book movies.

This time around, however, there was no chance of attempting method acting.

“That would’ve been a pitiful attempt to do that,” he said. “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.”

Other actors have attempted the method process when approaching such films – notably, Jared Leto stayed in character as both The Joker and Morbius. Still, I imagine it probably was a bit silly.

Want to read more about Thor: Love and Thunder? Check out the funny deleted scene from Thor 4 as well as the concept art showing Russell Crowe as Satan.

Ryan Leston is an entertainment journalist and film critic for IGN. You can follow him on Twitter.