Chris Hemsworth says the comedic direction of Thor: Love and Thunder caused his performance to fall short of expectations.
“I got caught up in the improv and the wackiness, and I became a parody of myself,” Hemsworth said in an interview with Vanity Fair. “I didn’t stick the landing.”
Taika Waititi‘s Thor: Love and Thunder was met with mixed reviews for its excessive humor when it was released in 2022. Hemsworth previously told GQ that he felt the Marvel Cinematic Universe installment was too silly and had lackluster CGI effects. Beyond his issues with the movie, Hemsworth admits some dissatisfaction with the way the God of Thunder was portrayed in his eight MCU appearances.
“Sometimes I felt like a security guard for the team,” Hemsworth said. “I would read everyone else’s lines and go, ‘Oh, they got way cooler stuff. They’re having more fun. What’s my character doing?’ It was always about, ‘You’ve got the wig on. You’ve got the muscles. You’ve got the costume. Where’s the lighting?’ Yeah, I’m part of this big thing, but I’m probably pretty replaceable.”
Despite his criticisms, Hemsworth remains grateful for Thor and how it elevated his career to projects such as the upcoming Furiosa: A Mad Mad Saga. Additionally, his Avengers co-star Robert Downey, Jr. praised the actor for bringing a larger-than-life superhero from the comic pages to the silver screen.
“First off, Thor as a character was super tricky to adapt — lots of implied limitations — but he and Ken Branagh figured out how to transcend, make him somehow relatable but godlike,” Downey said. “Hemsworth is, in my opinion, the most complex psyche out of all us Avengers. He’s got wit and gravitas but also such restraint, fire, and gentleness.”
Will there be a Thor 5?
While Marvel Studios has not officially announced Thor 5, Love and Thunder’s director Waititi confirms he will not be back to helm the project. Additionally, Hemsworth says he wants to reinvent the God of Thunder to make him “a little unpredictable”.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now streaming on Disney+.
