The cast and crew of the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s Thor: Love and Thunder appear to have become firm friends away from the screen, at least if the myriad of images circulating online showing them hanging out in Australia during their downtime is any indication.
Director Taika Waititi and stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman, Jeff Goldblum and Idris Elba were all spotted enjoying a game of rugby together from the comfort of a director’s box owned by Russell Crowe, who was officially announced as part of the ensemble shortly afterwards. Waititi and Hemsworth have also been known to go on fishing trips together, while the leading man recently watched some UFC action with Matt Damon.
There must be a fantastic working environment on set if everyone gets along so well when the cameras aren’t even rolling, so it shouldn’t come as a surprise that Waititi was quick to lavish praise on the MCU’s Thor in a new interview, as well as confirming that Love and Thunder is entering the final stretch with just four weeks of filming left to go. And it seems he has very high hopes for it.
“Great, we’ve got four weeks left, I can see light at the end of the tunnel. It might be the best Marvel film ever! [Chris] is a funny guy, he’s a good friend and he’s also someone that you just want to hang out with all the time. And I think that’s all you really want from a superhero or a main character in your movie.”
Let’s hope that camaraderie translates to the big screen, because Thor: Love and Thunder comes burdened with huge expectations. Not only does it boast one of the most stacked ensembles the MCU has ever seen outside of an Avengers movie, but predecessor Ragnarok is widely lauded as one of the franchise’s very best efforts, and Waititi has already promised that the Odinson’s landmark fourth solo outing is going to be twice as crazy and insane as the intergalactic buddy adventure that reinvented Hemsworth’s Thor as one of the most engaging and entertaining figures in the entire shared mythology.
