We live in a world where special effects are being used less and less in favor of wonderful-looking CGI. However, the actors involved with the production of movies still often have practical ways of keeping CGI concepts in mind. In fact, on the set of Thor: Ragnarok, Cate Blanchett had a lot of trouble imagining that she was manifesting weapons with her hands. So she eventually opted to use a real-life object in order to properly imagine she was throwing out weapons. That item? None other than sugar packets, like what you might put in your ice tea. She stated in a recent press conference for Thor: Rangarok,
I had to - well, I manifest weapons, and I had to throw them, and I could see Taika [Waititi]'s disappointment as I threw it. I said, 'Ha.' And I had to stop making the noises, because I'd go, 'Ha.' And so I had to close my mouth. And so eventually Zoey suggested that I put some sugar, which was deeply humiliating - sugar packets in my hand so at least I could throw something and be real.
That's right, even with all of the fancy CGI in the world, sometimes an actor or actress needs a real-world object to ground him or her in the make-believe. Cate Blanchett's not even the only person who has revealed they make noises while filming action sequences, as Laura Dern also recently noted that she ruined takes on the set of Star Wars: The Last Jedi by making "pew" noises, although she didn't have to resort to any sort of sugar packet trick.
In fact, Cate Blanchett revealed at the Thor: Ragnarok Los Angeles press conference that it was her stunt double, Zoey Bell, who helped her to work out details aboutHela's abilities. In fact, she really credited Bell with helping her to be more believable as an action hero on the big screen, also noting,
And then - yeah, so Zoey helped me with little things like that. She was a great action director. So I moved from the humiliating to the exhilarating in a matter of five days.
The end result actually looks pretty credible, but just imagine it with sugar packets.
Cate Blanchett isn't the only person on the set of Thor: Ragnarok that had to learn to make new movements believable. If you've seen the trailer for the upcoming Taika Waititi film, you already know that Chris Hemsworth's Thor loses his hammer during the course of events in the film, and he also mentioned he had trouble figuring out where to "put his hands" when it came to the new powers we will see from him in the movie, which hits theaters on November 3.
You can pre-order your tickets for Thor: Ragnarok if you plan to see the movie later this month, and be sure to check out what we know coming up in the third Thor flick.
