Chris Hemsworth and the team at Marvel Studios are now officially into the opening weekend for Thor: Love and Thunder, Hemsworth's fourth time leading the way in a God of Thunder solo movie. On top of being a wild rollercoaster ride from director Taika Waititi, this new solo adventure has a clear focus on the idea of love and family from start to finish.
Warning - the rest of this article contains spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder.
The core plot of this movie centers around Thor and his team rescuing the children of Asgard from Christian Bale's Gorr the God Butcher, who uses them as part of a ploy to bring his own daughter back to life. Serving as support for the leading heroes like Natalie Portman's Jane Foster and Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, these children not only become an important part of the story, but they're also played by actors quite close to the stars.
Bale revealed that his two children both play roles in the fourth Thor film, as do Natalie Portman and director Taika Waititi's kids as the children of Asgard took center stage. This is also the case with Hemsworth, who recently shared his first public quotes about his daughter's previously hidden role in the latest MCU epic.
Chris Hemsworth on His 'Love' Daughter In Thor 4
Speaking with film critic Kevin McCarthy, Thor: Love and Thunder star Chris Hemsworth discussed his daughter's role in the movie as Love, the daughter of Gorr the God Butcher.
While also touching on his twin sons playing roles in the movie, Hemsworth admitted that his kids wanted to be part of the movie, remembering how Taika Waititi, Christian Bale, and Natalie Portman brought their kids along too. Even though he isn't pushing his kids to become child actors after this movie, he loved the chance to work with them under the Marvel umbrella:
"It's really cool. They really wanted to be in it, y'know? And Taika had his children in there, Bale had his, Natalie had her kids as well. That's my daughter as well, she plays the character of Love. And y'know, it felt sort of like a one-off, fun family experience. I don't want them to now go on to be child stars and actors. It was just a special sort of experience we all had and they loved it, they had a great time."
Waititi and the cast expanded on these moments in a roundtable chat with Entertainment Weekly.
Bale also shared some of his experience working with Hemsworth's daughter, India, whose relationship with her father shone as they filmed their material together. While joking about her being nervous with him due to his appearance as Gorr, he praised Hemsworth for being such a good father and helping her through the experience:
“One of the other memorable bits for me, though, was working with India because she was so magnificent in it. But it was also so cute seeing your relationship and her having to be like ‘Who’s this weird bald bloke who’s just covered in scars and crying over her?’ And she and you kind of, you know, gently, what a good dad you are, gently coaching her through it like ‘No, just stay there, I know he’s a bit disgusting, let’s just stay there with it.’ It was good.”
Hemsworth added on to that moment, remembering how India was "supposed to kiss [Bale] on top of the head" and exclaimed about how "sticky" it was:
"She’s supposed to kiss you on top of the head and she’s like ‘It’s all sticky,’ so she did this. I was like ‘India, you’re not actually kissing his head.’"
Bale also looked back to one of the movie's biggest scenes, where Gorr had Thor, Jane, and Valkyrie tied up and gagged in the Shadow Realm. After joking about feeling "like a demented nun," he shared his hopes that this moment didn't take anything away from the overall results of Thor 4:
"I think it was three days of you guys all being gagged, and I think the actual writing was like that (small), and then I must have done that (big), so I kept on going and you were shouting things at me and I was coming up with stuff and acting. I felt like a demented nun or something. All I could see was your eyes, and I was just going ‘Oh my god,’ are they looking at me going ‘Oh, s***, this is the worst thing ever!’ Because no one can respond to me. And then I did also notice that none of that ended up in the film, so I think that must have been the answer, it was the worst thing! But it was a nice little trial by fire, I’ve seen what works."
Hemsworth expressed his joy to be working with so many familiar faces again, as well as Christian Bale while noting how much fun he had shooting the fight scenes with the Oscar-winner. He even remembered feeling a little nervous that those moments might be "too much in a Disney film" and a little too scary for some kids, including his own:
Yeah, I absolutely enjoyed that, teaming up with Natalie again, Tessa, and then Christian, who I hadn’t worked with. I mean the whole thing was a joy, but those fight scenes are always so much fun, and especially that first day that Christian was talking about. We didn’t know what he was going to do; we had a rough idea and then he came in and was incredibly intimidating and scary and I thought ‘This is going to be too much in a Disney film,’ but it worked. Too scary, yeah like, I’m scared my kids are gonna run out of the theater.
India Hemsworth's Time to Shine With Marvel
Chris Hemsworth has often brought his family in to help with some minor roles in his Marvel movies, including his wife Elsa Pataky appearing in three of the four Thor solo movies to date. Now, with his kids getting a little older, it's great to see him being such a supportive father and allowing them to have the opportunity for a few minutes of shine in the latest MCU blockbuster.
Hemsworth's daughter got a particularly fun role to play as Gorr the God Butcher's child, who wound up being under Thor's care by the time the credits began rolling.
Seeing the chemistry between Chris and India hit fans right in the heart, especially among so many other deeply emotional moments throughout the plot. It was clear that the entire Hemsworth family enjoyed this opportunity immensely, and while Love's role in the MCU's future is a mystery, India made the most of her time working with her dad.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters worldwide.
