Thor Ragnarok | Exclusive Interview With Karl Urban

Thor Ragnarok opens up this weekend, and I’m sharing my exclusive interview with Karl Urban. Karl Urban plays Skorge and shares his thoughts about working with Marvel and Skorge’s conflicts throughout the movie.

Photo Credit: Allison Waken / AllForTheBoys.com

Thor Ragnarok | Exclusive Interview With Karl Urban

During our Thor Ragnarok premiere, we had the opportunity to interview Karl Urban. When Karl Urban entered the room, his face lit up as he greeted me and a roomful of my “friends from work”. Then, he took his time going around the room to each one of us, personally greeting us and shaking our hands. I mean, what a guy, right? This made me love him even more. I was already a fan of his from the “Lord Of The Rings,” as Éomer.  

Photo Credit: Marvel Studios

Karl Urban As Skurge

To Waititi, Skurge is one of the most interesting characters in the film because “he goes through so many changes.” Describing Skurge’s journey, Urban says, “Skurge is an interesting character who has a moral dilemma. He has a choice to make, and he chooses survival. As soon as Hela turns up, Skurge makes a decision to side with her so 15 that he can live and try to figure out how he’s going to get out of this situation. His loyalties are still with Asgard, but he’s trying to play both sides of the coin. And that sets off this precarious balance throughout the film.”

During Thor Ragnarok, Urban’s character, Skurge deals with a lot of conflict within himself. He wants to be an Asgardian, but he also wants to survive. There were a few times throughout the movie where I wanted just to yell, “do the right thing Skurge!”

In LOTR, Urban’s character worked hard to protect his King and the people and restoring what belonged to his family and the people they served. The same could be said (in a way) in Thor Ragnarok. Although, for a while, it seemed that Skorge had crossed over to the dark side and was never coming back. (I’m not going to give away the ending and Skurge’s final moments- you will have to watch the movie!)

Photo Credit: Marvel Studios

Finding His Place In Thor Ragnarok

Karl Urban had quite the induction to the production of Thor Ragnarok. Did you know, as soon as he arrived on set, he was ushered into a chair, and with Taika Waititi holding the scissors, they cut all of his hair off. Thankfully, that didn’t scare him off, and he went on to play a fascinating character in Thor Ragnarok. “With something like Tolkien, for example, you have to come up with the imagery in your head. It’s your imagination based on the words of Tolkien that illustrate the material in your head. But with a comic book adaption, there are visual representations of not only your character but certain character beats. And that’s wonderful. They really do provide a wonderful source of inspiration and almost a key and a guidance as to what some of those character possibilities and choices may be. Then from there, it was about absorbing the script and identifying the journey of the character as it is written in this story.”

This was also his first time playing a comic book character, as well as sharing scenes in a film with Cate Blanchett. They worked together on “Lord of the Rings,” but never filmed scenes together. Urban stated “It’s been really fascinating working with her. The dynamic between our characters is an interesting one, so it’s a fun partnership.”

Urban praised the director, Taika Waititi on bringing life to the set. “You know, I can say this is one of the most fun sets that I’ve ever been on, Taika is constantly playing music, in between takes.  He really handled himself with such great aplomb, and I imagine it would have been a pressure cooker situation to be responsible for this behemoth movie.  But he did it with such aplomb and such grace and style. And he created an environment that was not only fun, but it was focused.  And that’s a rarity.”

Photo Credit: Allison Waken / AllForTheBoys.com

Praise For Marvel

When Urban was asked about what he felt about Marvel, as a whole, he had this to say, “Being part of Marvel Universe is an absolute pleasure. They are a wonderful collaborative company and I have a huge degree of admiration and respect for what they have done. Particularly what they have done on this film and how they’ve supported Taika. [Marvel]really put a network around him and gave him freedom – and had the courage to let him do his job. Nobody does it better than these guys. Many people try and copy them, but they have a formula. They are heavily aligned with the creative element of the process. And I think that’s to their benefit.”

Photo Credit: Allison Waken / AllForTheBoys.com

His Favorite Scene

He said he cannot wait to see the extras from Thor Ragnarok, because a lot of funny moments were cut, including one of his favorite scenes. “Skurge’s introduction, when I’m trying to woo the young ladies. They had a whole collection of stolen stuff that Skurge had pillaged from the universe. And you only got to see one thing of me shaking the shake weight. But they had all sorts of stuff-we shot like for hours with me with fishing rods with lures in front of the girls and all sorts of crazy stuff. So I’m looking forward to seeing that (in the extras/bonus features).”

About The Women On Thor Ragnarok

And speaking of women, Urban had quite a bit to say about working with women like Cate Blanchett and Tessa Thompson on Thor Ragnarok. “It’s imperative. It would have been a boring movie without them. Cate  Blanchett and Tessa Thompson are so wonderful in this film – they are my favorite parts of the movie. I love seeing Tessa’s swagger and the journey of her character from the dark place that she was in to redemption, reclaiming herself, her identity. I thought it was a strong, compelling journey. I had such a wonderful time working with Cate Blanchett. To be perfectly honest, she was the reason I decided to do this movie; the opportunity to work with Cate Blanchett. I read that script and saw that ninety percent of my material was with her. I’m like where do I sign up, how much do I pay you?” {See, didn’t I tell you he was a gentleman?!} 

Photo Credit: Allison Waken / AllForTheBoys.com

Karl Urban’s Thoughts on Thor Ragnarok

 “I just feel so blessed. It was such a pleasurable experience to not only see the film with my friends and colleagues but to see the film with an audience who were thoroughly entertained. Again, you have to give full credit to Taika and Marvel for really producing a film that reboots Thor in a wonderful, healthy, positive way. I’m so happy for Chris that he’s finally been given the opportunity to spread his wings. I think that this film showcases his complete full potential. And everyone was allowed to bring it.”

Photo Credit: Allison Waken / AllForTheBoys.com

Thor Ragnarok opens THIS weekend, November 3rd. You don’t want to miss Karl Urban as Skorge and find out what happens to him as he struggles with working with a villain, but still wanting to do the right thing in his heart! 

Thank you, Disney, for hosting me on this all-expense paid press trip to the #ThorRagnarokEvent and other Disney press events. However, you will always be reading 100% of my own thoughts, squeals, and opinions!