Christian Bale on His Gorr Transformation in ‘Thor: Love & Thunder’

Christian Bale has joined the Marvel Cinematic Universe as the villain Gorr the God Butcher in “Thor: Love and Thunder.”

In a new interview with “Extra’s” Jenn Lahmers, he speaks about the process of transforming into Gorr and how his version differs from the comic book character. Christian also addresses those headlines about him not knowing what the MCU was. Plus, does Christian want to do more with Marvel?

He called playing Gorr a “big transformation,” saying, “I collaborated with absolutely brilliant makeup artists to create this character,” adding it was a “four-hourlong prep each morning, hour and a half to get rid of Gorr at the end of the day. But what a job these guys did.”

Bale’s depiction of Gorr is very different than the villain in the comic books, who wore a barely-there outfit with a hooded robe.

Christian insisted, “Nobody wants to see me in the outfit and he was also very muscle bound… in the comics… with sort of tentacles coming off the side of his head. When I first met [director Taika Waititi], he'd already said, no, no, no, that's not the way that he wants to go with it. But also it was sort of necessity because I was coming off of another film where I had to be sort of actually void of any muscles whatsoever and so he said, ‘Alright, great, let's work with that and use it in opposition to how muscular Chris [Hemsworth] is.’”

Bale stars in the film alongside Hemsworth as Thor, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster/Mighty Thor and Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie.

The Oscar winner said of joining the group for “Love and Thunder,” “It's a lot of fun playing a villain as extreme as he is. And I think that and being on a set with Taika and all of the cast and crew was a real good laugh and fantastic company. But then what Taika is so good at is he can have you laughing your ass off, but then have real sincerity and very moving scenes as well. Which is very much a part of this this particular villain’s story.”

Does the former Batman star prefer playing the hero or the villain?

Christian told Jenn, “It's fun to just be able to make films because I'm grateful and always stunned that anybody hires me for them. But let me say it is easier to play the villain.”

He added, “You immediately have everybody's attention as the villain whereas as the hero you have to earn their attention… Chris had the tougher job.”

Lahmers asked about rumors Bale didn’t know what the MCU was, but he clarified, “It was the acronym I wasn’t familiar with,” explaining, “I’ve seen ‘Ragnarok’ and loved that and ‘Guardians of the Galaxy,’ but I don't watch many films of any kind. And so when people started saying, ‘You joined the MCU,’ it was like saying to me, ‘Oh, you got a AAA membership.’ What is that? Then they say Marvel. But, of course, I know it now.”

Jenn pointed out that once you’re in the Marvel Universe it is like Olive Garden — when you’re there, you’re family. Is the MCU a family Christian wants to stay a part of?

He joked, “Do they have bottomless pasta? Right? And all those breadsticks!”

What’s next for Christian? “Enjoying seeing people's response to this, to Thor, which has been a wonderful journey and I'm so grateful to be a part of it,” he said. “And then have a couple of films. One with my friend David O. Russell coming out later this year and another with my friend Scott Cooper.”