Gold Coast shoot takes Thor film franchise to another realm for Ragnarok

AUDIENCES will get to see just how clever local film crew are when Chris Hemsworth’s Gold Coast-made Marvel blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok opens on the big screen in October.

AUDIENCES will get to see just how clever local film crew are when the Gold Coast-made Marvel blockbuster Thor: Ragnarok opens on the big screen in October.

The first feature in the Marvel Cinematic Universe shot in the Southern Hemisphere, the production took over all of Village Roadshow Studios’ nine sound stages for filming and construction of its elaborate sets.

Director Taika Waititi and Chris Hemsworth (Thor) on the set of Thor: Ragnarok. Picture: Jasin Boland @Marvel Studios

Director Taika Waititi’s 17-week shoot also filmed on location in Brisbane, which doubled for New York, and used the Gold Coast Hinterland for scenes set in Scandinavian mountain ranges.

In a new behind-the-scenes clip released by Marvel, star Chris Hemsworth says the film’s look suited the series’ new direction.

“In this film we wanted to kind of strip it back,” he says.

Idris Elba as Heimdall on location at Tamborine Mountain during filming for Thor: Ragnarok. Picture: Jasin Boland @Marvel Studios

“We wanted to have more fun with it and Taika had the exact same idea. We were both saying ‘it’s called Ragnarok — let’s try and have more attitude’.

“Tonally I think it’s a perfect mix for where these characters and this story needed to go. Different costumes, different weapons, different cast or characters to work off give you a different energy.”

The Asgard Piazza set under construction on the backlot at Village Roadshow Studios. Picture: Luke Marsden.

Oscar-winning production designer Dan Hennah (Lord of the Rings and The Hobbit trilogies) and production designer Ra Vincent, who worked with Waititi on What We Do in the Shadows, designed more than 24 sets for the production, which wrapped filming on the Coast this time last year.

They included two sets on the studio backlot — Sakaar and Asgard Piazza — that took about 450 crew four months to build.

The Sakaar set under construction on the backlot at Village Roadshow Studios during filming for Thor: Ragnarok on the Gold Coast in 2016. Photo: David Clark

“Ragnarok’s sort of a new cycle in the life of the world or the realms of the universe,” Waititi says.

“It’s the destruction of the old and the rebirth of the new and that’s really exciting to me. The way that I’ve approached this is to rebuild it in a new way.”

Rachel House as Topaz and Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster, ruler of Sakaar, in Thor: Ragnarok. Picture: Jasin Boland ©Marvel Studios.

Ruled by Jeff Goldblum’s dictatorial character Grandmaster, Sakaar’s look was inspired by comic illustrations by Jack Kirby — the man who co-created Thor with Stan Lee in 1962

More than 2500 original costumes designed by Mayes Rubeo (Avatar) and made from materials sourced in Australia were also used to help bring the worlds of Asgard and Sakaar to life.

Thor: Ragnarok premieres on October 13 at Event Cinemas Robina and opens nationally on October 26.