Minor spoilers for Thor: Ragnarok follow…
A few weeks before the release of Thor: Ragnarok, it was revealed that Matt Damon would be making a brief cameo in the Marvel blockbuster, and as we’ve now seen, Damon takes on the role of an Asgardian actor portraying Loki in a play alongside Luke Hemsworth as Thor and Sam Neill as Odin. Speaking to Collider, Marvel Studios’ Kevin Feige has discussed the origin of the scene, and how Damon came to be involved.
“There was an idea in the script phase,” said Feige. “I don’t remember if it was our writer, Eric Pearson’s or if it was Taika Waititi’s or if it was our executive producer, Brad Winderbaum to bring the audience up to speed on the fact that everybody thinks Loki is dead. So that when it was revealed that he was Odin, it would make some semblance of sense to people who weren’t following along from all the films. There was this idea to do it in this funny sort of stage play which Loki/Odin had put on to celebrate himself. We then watched whatever was the season before last Game of Thrones. They did a similar thing where they had a stage play with some events from other episodes, not that we were like, ‘Oh crap.’ But then it’s different enough.”
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“There was a fun idea of “Let’s get Luke Hemsworth to play Thor,” Taika had worked with Sam Neill in Hunt for the Wilderpeople. He was willing to come in and do Odin,” Feige continued. “So who could be Loki? Who could be Loki? Who could be Loki? We didn’t have any brilliant ideas. At one point, off handedly, Mr. Hemsworth goes, “Well what if I ask my friend Matt?” I said, “Matt who?” He said, “My friend, Matt Damon.” “Okay. Sure. Sure Chris, ask your friend Matt Damon. He’s not doing this. Oh he’s gonna do it. He’s flying down.” The next thing I know, Matt Damon is on set in a full Loki costume, full Loki wig. We have pictures that maybe we’ll share some day of Tom Hiddleston in a full Loki outfit standing next to Matt Damon in full Loki outfit. It is very surreal and very amazing. What a testament to, I just met him for the first time, I wasn’t there when he shot this. I just met him for the first time last night. What an awesome thing, for him to come down here for his friend. It was purely based on his friendship with Hemsworth that he came and did this.”
And as for whether we might see Damon back in the MCU, Feige joked that: “I think, as he said to me on the carpet last night, that look, there he is now a stock as Asgardian player somewhere wandering the universe with, spoiler, Asgard gone. Who knows? It could be the adventures of a hard-working actor, Asgardian actor, in the future.”
SEE ALSO: Thor: Ragnarok was going to feature a childhood flashback with a fat Thor and goth Loki
In Marvel Studios’ “Thor: Ragnarok,” Thor is imprisoned on the other side of the universe without his mighty hammer and finds himself in a race against time to get back to Asgard to stop Ragnarok—the destruction of his homeworld and the end of Asgardian civilization—at the hands of an all-powerful threat, the ruthless Hela. But first he must survive a deadly gladiatorial contest that pits him against his former ally and fellow Avenger—the Incredible Hulk.
Thor: Ragnarok is directed by Taika Waititi (What We Do in the Shadows) and features a cast that includes Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Idris Elba as Heimdall and Mark Ruffalo as the Hulk, Cate Blanchett as Hela, Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie, Jeff Goldblum as the Grandmaster, Karl Urban as Skurge, Taika Waititi as Korg, Clancy Brown as Surtur, Rachel House as Topaz, Tadanobu Asano as Hogun, Ray Stevenson as Volstagg and Zachary Levi as Fandral.
