Chris Hemsworth on working with Cate Blanchett and off-set ‘shenanigans’ on Thor: Ragnarok
HE PLAYS a fearless god, but there’s one thing even Chris Hemsworth has admitted to being “wildly intimidated” by on the set of the new Thor film.
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HE PLAYS the musclebound God of Thunder, all powerful and afraid of nothing.
But, it looks like Chris Hemsworth met his match on the Gold Coast set of the third instalment of the Marvel franchise, Thor: Ragnarok.
The Aussie star has admitted to being “wildly intimidated” about going toe to toe with Oscar winner Cate Blanchett, who plays “goddess of death” Hela in the new movie, out in October.
Blanchett is near unrecognisable in the movie and worked with Hemsworth’s personal trainer Luke Zocchi to get in killer shape to embody the badass villain.
But despite being unnerved by the calibre of the acting chops he was going up against, Hemsworth said he found Blanchett to be a down-to-earth professional.
“It was wildly intimidating but she is one of my favourite people on the planet,” Hemsworth told news.com.au at Comic Con in San Diego at the weekend.
“It’s nice to meet your heroes and it be as good as you’d hoped.
“She’s just incredibly wonderful and generous and fun and that was one of the best experiences.
“She has the same sort of attitude that I like to think I follow, which is just to kind of turn up, do the work, have fun, treat everyone with respect, get on with it.
“There’s no sort of garbage with it. With someone at that level you’d sometimes expect it to come with problems — but, no, she’s just fantastic.
“It’s the Australian way.”
The movie’s director, New Zealander Taika Waititi, said both Hemsworth and Blanchett gave it their all in the fight scenes.
“It’s like two meerkats fighting over a cobra’s carcass. You know, it’s cute but the nails are out,” he told news.com.au.
Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige also said putting the two stars at odds was a highlight of the sequel.
“They’re two Australian legends, they’re two acting legends, and that’s never a bad thing to get them together in a movie,” he said.
Hemsworth had the luxury of shooting the blockbuster in his home country, just one hour from his home in Byron Bay.
He told news.com.au he was happy to take on the role of tour guide for his Hollywood co-stars, who included Mark Ruffalo (Bruce Banner/The Hulk) and Tom Hiddleston (Loki).
“We got less work done because I took them down to Dreamworld, Movie World, a few drinks, a few restaurants. It was great actually,” he said.
The movie took over the Gold Coast’s Village Roadshow Studios on the heels of Pirates of the Caribbean: Dead Men Tell No Tales — and it was actually Hemsworth’s idea to bring the big-budget production Down Under.
“I had kind of pitched shooting there, that was three years ago now when they talked about doing the film, and they had just done Pirates there and I said, ‘We gotta go back home’.
“I’ve shot in London, I’ve shot all around America, I want to be home for a while and, so, I’d like to thank myself for that,” he laughed.
All of the cast members news.com.au spoke to at Comic Con alluded to wild times off-set while on the Gold Coast — and it’s clear that Waititi was the instigator.
Tessa Thompson (Valkyrie) said the off-set antics were “scandalous”, while Karl Urban (Scourge) said “there were a few shenanigans that went on, as you’d expect”.
“Taika’s definitely the ringmaster,” the Kiwi actor said.
Waititi said he liked to “inspire people on set and off set”.
“On set, I create a world of music, dance, celebration, family — and I try to then double down on that when we’ve wrapped for the day,” he said.
This family approach has clearly jumped from the set to the screen, with a sense of fun, humour and improvisation central to the movie.
“With Taika Waititi at the helm, when I would go down and visit that set, it was by far the happiest, most pleasant, most effective set that I’ve ever been on,” said Feige, who is also a producer of the movie.
“And I don’t know if that’s Taika, I don’t know if there’s something in the water there in Australia, if that’s the crews, but that’s a fact.”
Speaking at a Comic Con panel earlier, Hemsworth said he was only interested in doing a third Thor film if he could present something fresh to the fans.
And that’s what we’re getting with the story moving to a new planet, Thor “getting his arse kicked” by The Hulk and the superhero losing his iconic long locks.
“I’ve played this character five times … and for me personally I got a bit bored of myself and thought we’ve got to try something different,” he said.
“I spoke with Taika, spoke with Kevin and all of us agreed that if we’re going to make a third Thor we have to really push the envelope and experiment and take it to another level.
“So that’s was what this film was: cut his hair, break his hammer, change his clothes, change the world and I think that’s what you’re going to see — the excitement of something incredibly unique and different for not only the Thor world but the Marvel universe.”
Thor: Ragnarok is scheduled for release in Australia on October 26.
This reporter travelled to San Diego courtesy of Disney, which owns Marvel Studios
Originally published as Chris Hemsworth on working with Cate Blanchett and off-set ‘shenanigans’ on Thor: Ragnarok
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