Part and parcel of Taika Waititi’s M.O. is a sneaky, self-effacing cameo – think of the director’s surprise appearance in Hunt For the Wilderpeople, or his direct involvement in quirky horror title What We Do in the Shadows.
Turns out Thor: Ragnarok is no different, as Waititi called upon motion-capture technology to bring Korg to life, along with an additional two characters. Speaking to Empire (via CBM) as part of Ragnarok‘s ongoing press tour, Taika Waititi confirmed that he played the part of Surtur, the fearsome fire dragon, and a third surprise character:
I am one of the heads on the three-headed alien, this character called Haju. I’m the head on the right. And I’m also the motion-capture for Surtur.
If you’re wondering why nobody twigged on to Waititi’s performances, it’s probably because Clancy Brown wound up lending his vocal chords to Surtur’s booming voice. Pretty neat, right?
The surprises don’t end there, though, as the director capped off his Ragnarok breakdown by detailing the scene in which Thor is joined in the Sanctum Sanctorum by Doctor Strange. And yes, it turns out all of those scenes were filmed using practical effects, and some smart editing.
It was all in-camera. Just jump cuts – hard-cutting to Chris doing a little wobble, as if he’d just arrived. For me, it was great – we didn’t need to do some sparkly VFX illusion. That stuff is very satisfying as a filmmaker.
Now that Asgard has been reduced to a smoldering pile of ashes, next up for Thor is the release of Avengers: Infinity War, which will see Marvel’s God of Thunder buddy up with scores of costumed crusaders (Spider-Man included!) when the ensemble piece arrives on May 4th, 2018.
