Thor: Love and Thunder had no shortage of deities when it first arrived last year, but if anyone was going to steal the show from Chris Hemsworth’s god of thunder, it was none other than Zeus himself. Portrayed by Virtuosity’s Russell Crowe, this version of Zeus sported his signature lightning bolt, a toga that left little to the imagination, and a very Greek accent.
Speaking to Vanity Fair, Crowe explained why he wanted to use that accent, as originally, the film producers insisted that he speak in a more neutral tone that was more reminiscent of his role as Maximus in Gladiator. Crowe described that accent as “Royal Shakespeare Company two pints after lunch” to director Taika Waititi, and he pitched his version of Zeus as being closer to his Greek origins.
“I said to Taika, you cannot make me do this in an English accent. I want to do this as a Greek guy. Zeus is a Greek god, he’s no other god from any other civilization,” Crowe said.
Some fans found Crowe’s version of Zeus to be too campy and concerned with orgies in comparison to the more serious Marvel Comics version, although this version was arguably more faithful to this his mythological roots and fitted the goofier tone of Love and Thunder.
Taika and the film producers eventually agreed, on the condition that Crowe did two takes of each scene. One with the Greek accent, one with “faux upper-class” kind of voice according to Crowe. The studio would then make two cuts of the film, and the version of Zeus that the audience reacted best to, would be the version that the studio would choose for the theatrical cut.
“The Greek characterization absolutely smashed the English one, absolutely smashed it by 10 or 15 points,” Crowe said. “And true to their word, they went with what they said.”
Crowe’s latest film sees him swap his Greek robes for papal vestments in The Pope’s Exorcist, a film based on the life and books of former Vatican chief exorcist Gabriele Amorth. As for Hemsworth, he’s taking a break from acting after learning that he is genetically pre-disposed to develop Alzheimer’s but he can be seen in Extraction 2 when it arrives on Netflix on June 16.
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