Actor Anthony Hopkins has spoken about his experience in the Marvel Cinematic Universe (MCU). More than a decade after appearing as Odin in 2011 movie Thor, the 85-year-old said it was a "pointless" approach to acting due to the green-screen CGI-heavy superhero films. Mr Hopkins was speaking to New Yorker in a wide-ranging piece about how the MCU ultimately "swallowed" Hollywood as a whole. The Oscar-winning actor has also appeared in 2013's 'Thor: The Dark World' and 2017's 'Thor: Ragnarok'.
"They put me in armour; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne, shout a bit. If you're sitting in front of a green screen, it's pointless acting it," Mr Hopkins told the outlet.
Interestingly, he had credited the role in 2011's 'Thor' movie with helping him continue his acting career, since he was considering retirement at that time.
"Branagh gave me back the chops to work. I was gonna give it up, really. But you see, (Branagh) won't let you do that," Mr Hopkins revealed in the 2021 book 'The Story of Marvel Studios: The Making of the Marvel Cinematic Universe' while talking about how 'Thor' director Mr Branagh gave him the encouragement he needed.
"Working with Ken was quite an injection of new energy into my life. He seems to have that same infectious quality on everybody in the crew," he had said.
Last year, 'Thor: Love and Thunder' actor Christian Bale had said it would be a "pitiful attempt" to apply classical acting techniques to play an MCU villain.
"That would've been a pitiful attempt to do that, as I'm trying to get help getting the fangs in and out and explaining I've broken a nail, or I'm tripping over the tunic," the Academy Award winner told GQ.
He had played as villain Gorr the God Butcher in the Taika Waititi film.