Russell Crowe Shot Two Versions Of Every Thor: Love And Thunder Scene With Different Accents
If superhero fans didn't realize it before, they certainly have a better idea now: Marvel movies tend to remain in a state of flux right up until the moment that the world premiere begins — and, sometimes, even after that! Thanks to their consistent success, Marvel movies in general, and Kevin Feige in particular, have gained a reputation for carefully planning out every step of the process as each of the early "Phase One" films progressively added up to the Marvel Cinematic Universe as we know it. The fact that the first "Iron Man" was largely filmed without a completed script and that Thanos himself wasn't originally meant to be the archvillain of the MCU, of course, tells a vastly different story.
However, more than many other recent films, "Thor: Love and Thunder" has seemed to put this narrative front and center. First, director Taika Waititi himself admitted that he tends to find his films "in post." Then came the news of a few planned cameos that were ultimately left out of the final cut. By the time fans got a look at the film for themselves this past weekend, the sheer amount of deleted scenes and missing footage present in the trailers indicated quite a bit of behind-the-scenes tinkering going on — but don't expect a director's cut.
Today brings us even more evidence of just how much of "Love and Thunder" Waititi was figuring out as he went along. According to star Russell Crowe, who plays the Greek god Zeus, he could've ended up with a much different accent.
'Flick!' (British accent)
Of the many colorful characters that Thor and his allies encounter on their cosmic journey, perhaps none leave quite as much of an impression as Crowe's relentlessly goofy take on Zeus himself: surrounded by admiring women, rocking a glorious beard and luscious locks, and sporting a skirt and Greek accent (although the handling of that last part drew some ire).
In an interview with Insider, Waititi opened up about the surprisingly time-consuming process of filming all of Crowe's dialogue as Zeus. By his own account, the filmmaker wasn't entirely sure whether he wanted the actor to speak with a British or a Greek accent. "We wondered if someone did a Greek accent of a Greek god, is it going to be a farce? Will it be too silly? And Russell was very much wanting it to be Greek," Waititi said on the matter. "But I wasn't sure, so we ended up doing two versions of every take with Russell. One in a Greek accent and then another in a British accent. Because I felt people would think Zeus would sound British like Laurence Olivier in 'Clash of the Titans.'"
"But then I realized in post that it's actually more offensive to the Greeks to have Zeus sound like he's British. And test audiences loved the Greek accent," he continued. "I'm really happy with it. But, yeah, he had to do every take once in the Greek accent and once with a British accent because I couldn't make up my mind. But Russell was right all along."
Crowe ultimately got his way, though it remains fascinating to hear more details about the making of this particular film. Love it or hate it, it certainly makes choices. "Thor: Love and Thunder" is currently playing in theaters.