3 Attachment(s)
Why Russell Crowe's Zeus Accent Is So Weird In Thor: Love & Thunder
Warning! SPOILERS for Thor: Love and Thunder.
Russell Crowe portrays Zeus in Thor: Love and Thunder, and his comedic performance includes a rather weird accent. With Chris Hemsworth's Thor returning in Love and Thunder (while Loki is missing), he teams with several of his old allies to stop the deity-slaying Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale). Their quest eventually brings them to the Omnipresent City to seek help from the demi-gods residing there.
One of them is none other than the Greek God of Thunder Zeus, whom Thor regards as personal hero with their shared lightning-based powers. Unfortunately, Zeus refuses to help in the fight with Gorr, leading to a major fight among gods. With Love and Thunder, under the direction of Taika Waititi, being among the most outright comedic MCU movies yet, Crowe's portrayal of Zeus is an especially zany one, including a somewhat bizarre accent for the Olympian god.
Audiences might even see more of the MCU's version of Zeus in the future. Despite his apparent death in the battle in the Omnipresent City, following Thor: Love and Thunder's ending, the movie's mid-credits shows Zeus still alive and recruiting his son Hercules (Brett Goldstein) to take out Thor. Meanwhile his accent makes the scene play quite differently than past cinematic depictions of Zeus.
Does Russell Crowe's Zeus Accent Work?
As Zeus, Crowe imbues the role with a Greek accent, which itself is a rather significant departure from other on-screen versions of the character, who frequently tend to speak with more of a British accent. While certainly very fitting for the king of the Greek gods, Crowe's accent as Zeus in Love and Thunder is nonetheless a bit over-the-top and sounds more like a comedic impression for the film's take on Zeus than an authentic Greek accent.
Zeus' Voice Isn't The First Accent Russell Crowe Has Struggled With
Apart from Russell Crowe's Zeus role in Love and Thunder, he has a somewhat hit-or-miss history when it comes to previous accents he's adopted on-screen. One of the more notable examples is in Ridley Scott's Robin Hood, with many reactions stating the Crowe's accent as the famed archer sounded more Irish than English. His actual Irish accent in 2014's Winter's Tale also was seen by many as rather shaky. Other times, Crowe's done fine with accents, taking on American accents fairly well in numerous films, while his performances as Maximus in Gladiator and Jor-El in Man of Steel having a clear and wholly convincing British influence.
Crowe is definitely one of the major comedic elements of Love and Thunder in his very committed and quite hammy portrayal of Zeus. While Crowe's Greek accent doesn't reach Dick Van Dyke in Mary Poppins levels of vocally falling short, it is nonetheless a weird element of the comedic and generally child-friendly Love and Thunder. In the end, Thor: Love and Thunder is clearly a thoroughly wacky MCU adventure, so Zeus' accent might best be viewed within that silly context.
