Thor: Love and Thunder is a cinematic spectacle on an intergalactic scale, but its aesthetics were apparently achieved in an oddly accessible setting. Indeed, co-star Natalie Portman reveals that some of the film’s more stunning scenes were shot on a Best Buy parking lot.
The actress, who makes a return to the Thor films as Jane Foster — now super-powered as the hero Mighty Thor — nearly nine years after the character’s last onscreen appearance in 2013’s Thor: The Dark World, seems to be awestruck by the ergonomic evolution of Marvel Cinematic Universe filmmaking. “There’s one scene that’s one of the most visually beautiful scenes I’ve seen on film, and we shot [it] in real life in a Best Buy parking lot,” Portman said to Entertainment Weekly while laughing. “It’s so wild to be on this size of movie, and we were literally in a parking lot with a blue screen, doing this really dramatic thing. It looks so stunning on film, but every time I see it, I’m like, ‘That’s a Best Buy parking lot.'”
Portman’s praise for the production is especially notable since she has extensive experience acting in front of blue screens. After all, shot her famous role as Padmé Amidala in the 1999-2005 Star Wars Prequel Trilogy in front of similar clinical cobalt-colored curtains. However, that kind of filmmaking was confined indoors to a studio, which made evoking emotional performances more difficult than scenes shot in a real, interactive, sun-drenched outdoor location. Of course, Portman could not have imagined that an outdoor location chosen by the $250 million-budgeted Love and Thunder production would be the parking lot of a national retail electronics chain. However, the seemingly makeshift nature of the shopping cart-cleared shoots were clearly belied by impressive results.
Interestingly enough, another former franchise of Portman’s in Star Wars has also advanced its production techniques. Consequently, should she finally opt to (somehow) reprise Padmé on one of the developing Disney+ TV shows or, more likely, a prospective second season of Obi-Wan Kenobi alongside former prequel co-stars Hayden Christensen and Ewan McGregor, she’d be in for a similar shock. That’s because Lucasfilm, now under the Disney umbrella, has ditched blue screen shoots for StageCraft technology called the Volume, which utilizes advanced LED technology to project shockingly realistic outdoor backdrops, making performances feel organic.
Despite being the fourth film in an eleven-year-old film franchise, Love and Thunder is shaping up to represent another box office victory for the MCU, and is already estimated to surpass the $123 million domestic opening weekend number of its immediate predecessor, 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. The performance, which occurs despite lingering post-pandemic reluctance among audiences, should be a big boost to Taika Waititi, whose returning tenure in the director’s chair will have outperformed… well, himself.
Thor: Love and Thunder is playing at theaters now.
Source: Entertainment Weekly