Russell Crowe Did Every Take Twice as Zeus in THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER Alternating Accents to Find the Right One

Christian Bale (The Dark Knight) made his DC to Marvel crossover with the latest MCU outing Thor: Love and Thunder, but as it turns out, he was in good company with his co-star Russell Crowe (Man of Steel), who was also transitioning to the new fandom. Both Academy Award-winning actors had a lot to consider when playing these new characters, and we’ve heard a lot about the cultivating of Bale’s Gorr the God Butcher, considering he was such a dark and layered villain. But as it turns out, Crowe also had a lot to figure out when figuring out how to play the Greek God Zeus.

In a recent interview with Insider, Waititi was asked if Crowe just showed up to set with the Greek accent we saw in the film, and he said:

“No. You would love to think that, I would love to think that. 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.

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.”

I actually thought Zeus’s accent was a little distracting. But I thought Crowe’s performance was funny! Thor: Love and Thunder is in theaters now.