Tessa Thompson took Marvel Cinematic Universe fans by storm with her appearance as Valkyrie in Thor: Ragnarok — and it sounds like a bit of work went into making that happen.
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A recent report from The Huffington Post detailed how Thompson was able to juggle filming Ragnarok‘s reshoots with the indie hit Sorry to Bother You. With Thompson dyeing her hair a sort of neon orange to play Sorry to Bother You‘s Detroit, Marvel was left in a pretty sticky situation in terms of Ragnarok‘s continuity.
According to Sorry to Bother You director Boots Riley, this ultimately resulted in Disney and Marvel Studios making Thompson a $10,000 wig for Ragnarok‘s reshoots. Riley later apologized to Ragnarok director Taika Waititi about the matter, but Waititi was apparently okay with it.
“He was like ‘It’s not my money!’” Riley explained.
For those who have seen both Ragnarok and Sorry to Bother You — and have processed the latter film’s messages about art and capitalism — there will surely be a bit of irony in Thompson needing a $10,000 wig. And even as the end result of the wig ended up being pretty seamless onscreen, it’s hard to deny that Valkyrie having orange hair might not have been out of place in Ragnarok‘s aesthetic.
“I like sort of bucking this conventional idea of a woman is beautiful or sexy if she’s sort of thin.” Thompson said of Valkyrie in an interview last year. “She’s felt, but you can’t really see her strength. I like the idea that she can just be ripped, like Valkyrie is in the comics. Yeah, I found that sort of essential, that not really caring about how I looked, but caring more about how I felt. I felt so strong, and in my skin.”
Considering the direction that the Marvel Cinematic Universe is currently going in – and the supposed fate of Valkyrie after Avengers: Infinity War – fans are certainly eager to see what’s next for the character. And it sounds like Thompson already has a few ideas in mind.
“I think it’d be fun to see her on Earth.” Thompson explained. “I think it would be fun to see her in more unexpected team-ups, because she has such a sort of brash, particular personality. It’d be funny to see her in the MCU, seeing who she gets along with, who she maybe doesn’t get along with. I think the possibilities are wide open.”
Avengers: Infinity War is now available on Digital platforms and lands on DVD and Blu-ray on August 14. Ant-Man and the Wasp is now in theaters. Other upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movies include Captain Marvel on March 8, 2019, the fourth Avengers movie on May 3, 2019, and Spider-Man: Far From Home on July 5, 2019.
