Christian Bale Talks About the Reasons He Took on Gorr the God Butcher, and How It All Boiled Down to His Kids

Academy Award-winning actor Christian Bale (The Fighter, American Hustle, Vice) is known for the dramatic roles he has taken on throughout his career. From 2005-2012, he took on the role of Batman in the Dark Knight trilogy, and while a superhero role seemed a little out of character for the actor, it was a serious take with an acclaimed director and major big-screen budget. He knocked it out of the park, and returned to some of the deep roles he was used to. So it was surprising to some when we saw that he was set to return to superhero lore in the MCU’s Thor: Love and Thunder.

When talking to Screen Rant about the reasons he took the role, Bale explained:

"For me, it was Taika. I loved 'Thor: Ragnarok,' as did my family. We also all loved 'Jojo Rabbit,' and then I had worked with Natalie [Portman, on Terrence Malick's 'Knight of Cups'] and wanted to work with Tessa [Thompson] and with Chris [Hemsworth]. It comes down to that, really. I just went, 'Great!' Loved the script, loved Taika's description of the villain. 'Let's go do this.'"

But it almost didn’t happen. The busy actor almost had to back out due to scheduling conflicts, but his kids set him straight:

"There were some potential scheduling conflicts. I said to my family, 'I don't think it's going to work out,' and they went, 'No, you make it work out. You're doing this, Dad.' They gave me my marching orders, and I dutifully obeyed."

Thanks, Christian Bale’s kids! Thor: Love and Thunder hits theaters next weekend, July 8th!