Matt Damon reveals that to film his cameo in Taika Waititi's MCU movie Thor: Love and Thunder, he needed the Australian government's permission.

Matt Damon reveals why he had to get permission to film his cameo in Thor: Love and Thunder. The upcoming Marvel Cinematic Universe movie is the second from New Zealand director Taika Waititi after Thor: Ragnarok, with both centering on Chris Hemsworth's Asgardian hero and founding Avenger. Thor: Love and Thunder is scheduled for release on May 6, 2022.

Thor: Ragnarok was a hit with critics for bringing Waititi's particular style and sense of humor to the MCU, allowing Hemsworth to deliver a comedic performance that helped Thor shine in ways that informed his future appearances in the Avengers films. One particularly funny moment saw Thor return to Asgard to discover Loki posing as their father, Odin, and watching a reenactment of the trickster god's faked death in Thor: The Dark World, exaggerated to emphasize Loki's heroism. The Asgardian actor playing Loki is portrayed by Damon in a memorable cameo, while Sam Neill and Luke Hemsworth play the Odin and Thor actors, respectively.

All three will reprise their cameo parts in Love and Thunder, though Damon reveals to GQ that his return took getting some special permission from the Australian government. His scenes filmed in early 2021, and Australia has had one of the world's lowest COVID rates in part because of its strict approach to border control. After he agreed to take the part, he was approached by government agents who let him know why he was getting special treatment:

There were government officials who called me and explained to me in no uncertain terms: The only reason you’re getting in is because this production is creating jobs. Now, could the production live without me? Yeah. But you start pulling jokes away from something that’s funny and eventually it’s not, you know what I mean?

Though he only spent two days on set, Damon and his family remained in Australia for five months, and the American actor acknowledges he has been lucky during the pandemic. He also tells an amusing story of attending an '80s-themed birthday party for a friend of Hemsworth's. "So I went kind of Run DMC and got me the old Adidas tracksuit with the Kangol hat," Damon says, "which was very much the look in the ’80s where I grew up. I think my wife got some plastic chain online that I accessorized with. And, funnily enough, Idris Elba came in dressed in the exact same thing."

Damon's comments illustrate the difficulty of blockbuster filmmaking in the pandemic era, with globetrotting productions requiring a great deal of string-pulling to pull off. His second anecdote is also somewhat revealing - there has already been speculation that Elba returns as Heimdall in Thor: Love and Thunder despite his character's death in Avengers: Infinity War, and Damon certainly implies he was connected with the production. MCU fans have a few other films and Disney+ series to get through before they can find out, but thanks to a begrudging Aussie government, they can at least be sure of seeing Damon's Asgardian diva again when Waititi's film releases in May.

Next: The MCU Just Told Thor’s Phase 4 Story Before Love & Thunder

Source: GQ