Though most fans would agree that Gorr the God Butcher wasn't given enough screen-time in Thor: Love and Thunder, Christian Bale certainly made the most of his scenes, delivering a creepy, unhinged take on the fan-favorite Marvel Comics villain.
Some might argue that Bale's intense performance was at odds with the light-hearted (goofy?) movie unfolding around him, and it sounds like The God Butcher could have been an even more abrasive presence in the MCU sequel.
While speaking to Inverse, Bale revealed that he shot some "R-rated" sequences he knew would never actually make it into the final film.
"With Thor: Love and Thunder, Taika and me, we kind of knew that some of the stuff we were doing probably wouldn't end up in the film, but we wanted to just push it and see. Ultimately, it is and should be a film that all the family can go and enjoy."
He continued: "And Chris Hemsworth, a couple of times he looked at me it was like, 'Dude, that's a little too far. I don't think anyone's gonna want to see that unless it's an R-rated film'. But it was a great joy to give it a shot. And we had a lot of fun in there doing certain scenes and takes on certain scene choices, even if they didn't end up in the final cut."
Unfortunately, Bale doesn't elaborate, so we have no idea what prompted that reaction from his co-star. We assume he dropped an F-bomb or two, but it may simply have been a case of improvising some sinister/disturbing dialogue that was deemed to be too strong for a family film.
Will these scenes ever see the light of day? We know a lot of other stuff ended up on the cutting room floor, but director Taika Waititi has already made it clear that he has no intention of releasing it.
Thor: Love and Thunder finds Thor (Chris Hemsworth) on a journey unlike anything he’s ever faced – a quest for inner peace. But his retirement is interrupted by a galactic killer known as Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale), who seeks the extinction of the gods. To combat the threat, Thor enlists the help of King Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), Korg (Taika Waititi) and ex-girlfriend Jane Foster (Natalie Portman), who – to Thor’s surprise – inexplicably wields his magical hammer, Mjolnir, as the Mighty Thor.
Together, they embark upon a harrowing cosmic adventure to uncover the mystery of the God Butcher’s vengeance and stop him before it’s too late.
Directed by Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit) and produced by Kevin Feige and Brad Winderbaum, Thor: Love and Thunder is now streaming on Disney+.