‘Investing in friendships’ is the phrase of the day here, as Kat Dennings explains how she got a beefed-up role in the original Thor film.
A mild spoiler follows for episode 4 of WandaVision.
If you’ve been watching WandaVision, the Marvel Cinematic Universe’s (proper) small screen bow on Disney+, you may well have been happy to see Kat Dennings pop up in the most recent episode. She reprises her role as Darcy Lewis, the sarcastic scientist who earned a lot of admirers with her appearances in the first two Thor films.
In WandaVision, the character of Darcy makes an appearance to work alongside FBI agent Jimmy Wu, to try and figure out exactly what is going on in the town of Westview, USA. It’s been seven years since we’ve seen Dennings make an appearance in the MCU, and her return is a very welcome one.
The actor has been looking back (via Movieweb) at the circumstances that led her to getting the role as Darcy in 2011’s Thor, and in a rather sweet story that makes for a perfect Monday morning pick-me-up, she revealed that it was the close nature of her friendship with co-star, Natalie Portman, that saw her originally-smaller role get beefed up with some audience-pleasing deadpan zingers.
Says Dennings, “what’s interesting is…and Thor was like 10 years ago, so I don’t think they’ll mind if I talk about this. In the rehearsal process, because for Thor, this is like his story so it was like really you have to create and it’s very complicated. For anyone who knows the Thor stuff, it’s like Norse. There [are] gods. There’s stuff. There [are] rainbow things, and you have to make it grounded somehow so there’s a lot of rehearsal for the actors… The writer[s] and Marvel people will come to the rehearsals and just watch us interact and say the lines”.
“My part, Darcy, was originally, like, two scenes, and she was literally just an intern, just there to kind of bounce off other people. It was the best day of my life. I could not believe these people hired me and like I duped them somehow [to hire] me”.
It was only when the creative personnel behind the film witnessed real-life pals Dennings and Portman interacting, that they were struck by their chemistry and began to give Jennings’ character more to do.
“Because Natalie and I are already friends, I remember this exactly. I walk in the room and I’m very shy. I came in and I sat down and Natalie hadn’t gotten there yet and everyone was so nice. Natalie came in and sat on my lap because we’re friends. I think our friendship started to infect them [like] its purity and love. Slowly, Darcy became more involved, and I was like ‘why are they adding me to scenes?’ That’s kind of what happened. If I am being honest, friendship magic is the reason I’m here today”.
It was an opportunity that Dennings seized upon. In a film filled with fine comedic performances, Dennings would steal every scene she featured in, and help to make the Thor franchise a success.
So there you go, invest in your friendships, and you too may one day find yourself in the MCU! (And if not, you’ll still have wonderful people around you… that’s what they call a ‘win-win’, right?)
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