The “most visually beautiful” scene in the new “Thor” sequel apparently went down in a surprisingly mundane location.
Ahead of “Thor: Love and Thunder” arriving in theaters on Friday, Natalie Portman, whose character assumes the power of a Norse god in the film, revealed that a key sequence was shot in, yes, a Best Buy parking lot.
Perhaps supplying some fuel to critics of Marvel Studios’ visual style, Portman shared some behind-the-scenes details with Entertainment Weekly about how a certain scene came together.
“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 told the magazine. “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,’” she added.
Portman didn’t reveal which scene she was discussing, but Bale, who appears in “Love and Thunder” as the villainous Gorr the God Butcher, confirmed that he also shot some Best Buy-adjacent scenes.
“I think I might have been in the same place,” Bale said. “Because I texted [director Taika Waititi], and I was like, ‘That Glendale parking lot stuff actually really worked!’”
After sitting out the third “Thor” movie, 2017’s Waititi-helmed “Ragnarok,” Portman returns to the franchise in “Thor: Love and Thunder” as Dr. Jane Foster, who becomes the Mighty Thor once she finds herself worthy of wielding the enchanted hammer Mjölnir.
To get into superhero shape, Portman underwent five months of training before production even began, with an intense regimen of boxing, weightlifting, cardio and Pilates.
“On ‘Black Swan,’ I was asked to get as small as possible,” Portman told Variety last month, referring to the 2010 Darren Aronofsky picture for which she won the Oscar for Best Actress. “Here, I was asked to get as big as possible. That’s an amazing challenge — and also state of mind as a woman.”
And while Portman didn’t need much convincing to reprise her role, she ultimately signed on to the project to “just impress my kids.”
“My 5-year-old and my 10-year-old were so enthralled by this process, getting to visit the set and see me dressed up in a cape,” she explained. “It made it really cool. You know, it’s very rare that my kids are like, ‘Please go to work!’ Usually, it’s quite the opposite.”
“Thor: Love & Thunder,” which also stars Chris Hemsworth, Tessa Thompson and Russell Crowe, hits theaters on July 8.