Thor: Love and Thunder has received mixed to positive reviews so far and we had to wonder why given that it’s the same people who made Thor: Ragnarok. Well, it turns out that both Christian Bale (portraying Gorr the God Butcher) and Natalie Portman (Jane Foster) have said in separate interviews that a considerable amount of the film was left on the cutting room floor.
In an interview with Spanish-language website, Prensa Escario, Bale said he worked with Peter Dinklage and Jeff Goldblum on the film, neither of which appear in the film.
“I got to work with Peter Dinklage. That’s not in the final film, but he’s fantastic. I got to work with Jeff Goldblum – he’s not in the final film either. As you see, lots of stuff ends up on the cutting room floor even though it’s beautiful, brilliant stuff.”
Both Dinlkage and Goldblum have played memorable characters in Thor’s story. Dinklage appeared as the giant Eitri who creates Stormbreaker, Thor’s new weapon, in Avengers: Infinity War. Goldblum played the hilarious Grandmaster in Thor: Ragnarok who kept Thor a prisoner on his planet and forced him to participate in gladiatorial battles.
Portman went further and told IndieWire that “whole sequences, planets, characters, and world that didn’t end up in the movie that were hilarious and amazing.”
This isn’t framed as a bad thing according to Portman, “It’s just amazing how much great material is not in the film, considering how much great material is in it. Usually, it’s like, you’re just trying to get enough good stuff to put in the film, and this had overflow.”
Hmmm… not sure about that one Portman given that some reviews so far have called the film “hasty-feeling” and “incoherent”.
Bale offered a different theory as to why at least some of the material was cut, particularly as it pertains to his character. There was apparently a scene in which Gorr cuts his own tattoos off which was cut as he told ScreenRant, “We filmed an awful lot that you don’t see, but I think it was considered to be a little bit too extreme.”
One scene involving a reference to the “Come to Daddy” video by Aphex Twin was cut too. Bale wanted this reference as part of the deal to include the scream from the video, “but that deal wasn’t kept.” He continued that he understood why this had happened,
“Because it was, again, something which was just a little too extreme perhaps for the PG-13. Might have had people running for the exits. But we did do it, and it’s on the cutting room floor somewhere.”
He added, “But we must remember, we’re making a family-oriented film. We did a lot of scarier stuff, and weirder, creepier stuff, as well.”
These actors are professionals and aren’t going bad mouth their employers (especially when they are as big as The Mouse), but if you read between the lines, you get the feeling that the movie they made isn’t the movie that came out.
Portman reported that there were more emotional scenes between her character, Jane, and Thor that were cut, along with several scenes she had with Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson). Why were these scenes cut? Time constraints? It’s easy to understand why the scarier stuff was cut, but emotional scenes between characters? That seems counterproductive.
What if director, Taika Waititi, made a movie that was far too… Taika? Bale did say that Taika “did a lot funnier stuff than was allowed to be in the film, in my opinion.”
We can only guess what happened in the editing room, but it certainly leaves room to suggest that Marvel/Disney executives were not completely happy with what Taika had made. It’s possible that it just didn’t fit the Marvel brand which is a shame but what can you do?
Thor: Love and Thunder is out in cinemas now.
For more, check out our review of Thor: Love and Thunder.
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