‘Thor: Love And Thunder’: Natalie Portman Says One Of The Movie’s Most “Stunning” Scenes Was Shot In A Best Buy Parking Lot

Taika Waititi‘s “Thor: Love And Thunder” opens in theaters today, and Marvel fans anticipate another wild and colorful adventure. And based on advance reviews, that’s what they’ll get, even if the movie adheres to an MCU formula that grows staler with every new film. But when audiences watch Thor and company trek to the furthest reaches of space this weekend, Natalie Portman has a funny anecdote to remind everyone that filmmaking sometimes is not so majestic.

READ MORE: ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: Christian Bale Didn’t Know What “MCU” Meant & Was Worried About Wearing A G-String When He Signed On

In an interview with EW, Portman talked about one of her favorite days on set for “Love And Thunder” when Waititi shot one of the film’s most memorable sequences. And where did Waititi shoot it? “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. “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.'”

Now, with how saturated Marvel movies are with digital effects and CGI, directors may shoot sequences virtually anywhere. But filming on a blue screen in a Best Buy parking lot is on another level entirely. It sounds like Waititi pulled the stunt off, though, as Christian Bale was as impressed as Portman with how the sequence turned out. “I think I might have been in the same place,” said Bale during the interview roundtable, “Because I texted [Taika], and I was like, ‘That Glendale parking lot stuff actually really worked!'”

Waititi’s follow-up to his 2017 film “Thor: Ragnarok” sees Portman return as astrophysicist Jane Foster, Thor’s love interest in the first two “Thor” films. She reconnects with Thor in this one after becoming The Mighty Thor, with god-like lightning powers of her own. As for Bale, he plays Gorr The God Butcher, who sets out to wipe out all of the Gods in the universe. Obviously, it’s up to Chris Hemsworth‘s Thor, Tessa Thompson‘s Valkyrie, and Waititi’s Korg to stop Gorr from succeeding.

So, there you have it: directors may shoot Marvel movies just about anywhere, even Best Buy parking lots. Admittedly, MCU content isn’t exactly the stuff of rogue filmmaking like Werner Herzog and others, but the lesson here might be that if there’s a will, there’s a way.

“Thor: Love And Thunder” opens in theaters today. Read our review of it here.