Why You Can Trust CNET Christian Bale's 'Thor: Love and Thunder' Villain Took Inspiration From 'Exorcist' Theme Song
Director Taika Waitii played Mike Oldfield and Kate Bush music on the set of the Marvel Cinematic Universe movie.
Christian Bale's Gorr haunts the Marvel Cinematic Universe in Thor: Love and Thunder.
Former Batman actor Christian Bale enters the Marvel Cinematic Universe next month, portraying terrifying baddy Gorr the God Butcher in Thor: Love and Thunder. The movie hits theaters July 8, and Bale reckons he had an easier job than co-star Chris Hemsworth, who plays Thor.
"There's a great pleasure in playing a villain -- it's a lot easier ... than it is to play a hero," Bale said at a press conference for the movie on Friday. "Everyone is fascinated with bad guys."
Gorr made his comics debut in writer Jason Aaron's incredible 2012 Thor: God of Thunder run, where the divine beings fail to help as his people suffer immense hardship on their barren planet. The deaths of his family prompt him to go on a bloody campaign of vengeance against gods across the galaxy.
Bale noted that director Taika Waitii, who directed Love and Thunder after previously helming 2017's Thor: Ragnarok, plays music constantly on set. Mike Oldfield's 1973 albumTubular Bells, which became famous after being used in the soundtrack for demonic possession movie The Exorcist, helped the actor find Gorr's emotional state, along with music from Kate Bush (who recently had a moment due to Stranger Things season 4).
Music from the '80s helped define the look of the movie's whole aesthetic, Waitii said during the event.
"We wanted it to be this bombastic, loud, color palette, which reflected spray painted panel vans in the '80s and rock album covers," the director said. "Even the title treatment for the film is the kind of thing I would have drawn on my school book in class when I wasn't listening -- I remember spending months and months perfecting the Metallica logo at school."
Guns N' Roses also feature heavily in the soundtrack, as hinted at in the first trailer, back in April.
"To be able to use that stuff to reflect the crazy adventure that we're presenting visually was another one of my dreams that came true," Waitii said.
