Russell Crowe shot all of his ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ scenes in 2 different accents

Warning: Spoilers for Thor: Love and Thunder to follow.

Whatever you think of Russell Crowe’s larger-than-life turn as Zeus — and people do have a lot of thoughts on it — in Thor: Love and Thunder, you have to admit that he made a big impression. For one, the Gladiator icon’s, er, unique take on a Greek accent is one of the things about the movie that stays with you the most after watching. But it turns out director Taika Waititi was so uncertain about the voice that he made Crowe record all his scenes with two different accents.

Waititi admitted to Insider that he initially wasn’t convinced Zeus should speak with a Greek accent, although this was an idea that Crowe pitched himself and was adamant about. The filmmaker explained that he originally thought it best to portray the king of the gods as British, in keeping with the strange trend for him to be played by English actors in movies. So the pair reached a compromise. Waititi explained:

“We actually talked at length about the accent. We wondered if someone did a Greek accent of a Greek god, is it going to be a farce? Will it be too silly? And Russell was very much wanting it to be Greek. But I wasn’t sure, so we ended up doing two versions of every take with Russell. One in a Greek accent and then another in a British accent. Because I felt people would think Zeus would sound British like Laurence Olivier in Clash of the Titans.”

Waititi later had a change of heart, however, and he came around to Crowe’s way of thinking — it probably didn’t hurt that test audiences apparently went crazy for the Greek accent. In the end, the Ragnarok helmer admits Crowe was the one in the right. I guess that’s why he’s the God of Lightning. Waititi continued:

“But then I realized in post that it’s actually more offensive to the Greeks to have Zeus sound like he’s British. And test audiences loved the Greek accent. I’m really happy with it. But, yeah, he had to do every take once in the Greek accent and once with a British accent because I couldn’t make up my mind. But Russell was right all along.”

Your mileage may vary on whether you believe Waititi made the right choice in going with the Greek Zeus instead of the British one, as some fans are really loving Crowe’s OTT performance while others… really aren’t. Seeing as he’s bound to return in some future project, going by the film’s mid-credits scene, however, it could be fun if Zeus switches to an English accent next time we see him without any explanation. It wouldn’t be the first time something like that had happened.

Thor: Love and Thunder is playing in theaters now.