The 7 biggest 'Thor: Love and Thunder' secrets revealed by director Taika Waititi

The goats are cannon in the Thor comics, as the duo are the majestic creatures that pull his chariot. In the movie, they pull the large Viking ship that Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Jane (Natalie Portman), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Korg (Taika Waititi) use to go in search of Gorr the God Butcher (Christian Bale).

But what's the deal with the goats screaming?

"They were never meant to be screaming," Waititi, who along with playing Korg is also the movie's writer-director, told Insider.

"The goats were always going to be in there because they are in the comics, but we didn't know how they would sound," he continued. "Then someone in post-production found this meme of a Taylor Swift song that has screaming goats in it. I didn't even know that existed."

Following the release of Swift's single "I Knew You Were Trouble" in late 2012 from her Red album, a YouTube video was posted of the music video along with spliced-in footage of a screaming goat. It went viral.

"A lot of people think it's me screaming," Waititi said. "It's not."

Though Crowe very much wanted to do the Zeus character in a Greek accent, Waititi needed more convincing.

In fact, Crowe did all of his scenes twice, one time with a Greek accent and a second time with a British accent, because Waititi wanted options in post-production.

"We actually talked at length about the accent," Waititi told Insider. "We wondered if someone did a Greek accent of a Greek god, is it going to be a farce? Will it be too silly?"

"We ended up doing two versions of every take with Russell," he said. "One in a Greek accent and then another in a British accent. Because I felt people would think Zeus would sound British like Laurence Olivier in "Clash of the Titans." In the 1981 movie based on the Greek myth of Perseus, English actor Olivier plays Zeus.

When post-production came around, it was finally time to come to a decision. And that's when Waititi realized something.

"It's actually more offensive to the Greeks to have Zeus sound like he's British," he said. "And test audiences loved the Greek accent. I'm really happy with it. But, yeah, he had to do every take once in the Greek accent and once with a British accent because I couldn't make up my mind. But Russell was right all along."

The 5'3" Natalie Portman didn't just get buff for her role as Mighty Thor in "Thor: Love and Thunder," she also had to appear 6 feet tall.

Waititi revealed to Insider how the cast and crew pulled it off.

"We built a whole bunch of decking around the set," he said. "First we would block out the scene — mark out where the actors have to go so the crew knows the whole layout — and once we did that we build an elevated platform that she would walk on."

The raised platforms did the trick, but Waititi said it did take some careful maneuvering by the other actors in the same shot with her.

"We also had to leave room so Chris and Tessa could walk around at regular height," he said. "It was a weird maze. But it worked."

In the middle of the movie when Thor (Chris Hemsworth), Jane (Natalie Portman), Valkyrie (Tessa Thompson), and Korg (Waititi) travel to Omnipotence City to seek out the help of the gods against Gorr (Christian Bale), Thor finds himself in a bind when he's singled out by the biggest god of them all, Zeus (Russell Crowe).

Asked by Zeus to stand in front of him, Thor does so but is wearing a cloak to disguise himself. So Zeus uses his powers to easily flick it away, however, he flicked too hard and all of Thor's clothes come off. A shot from behind reveals that Thor has a giant back tattoo that says "RIP Loki," his brother who died at the hands of Thanos in "Avengers: Infinity War."

"That was supposed to be in 'Ragnarok,'" he told Insider of the joke. "When Loki faked his death and he's reunited with Thor and Thor can't believe he's alive, he was to say, 'I mourned you, look I even got this stupid tattoo,' and Thor lifts his sleeve and it's a tattoo that says 'RIP Loki.'"

"For some reason it didn't make it into the film, but I was determined to get it into this one so I doubled down and put it on his back," Waititi added.

The joke is amplified because of the size of the tattoo. Waititi said he couldn't take credit for that. It was Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige who came up with that idea.

"Then Kevin was like, 'Can we make it five times bigger?'" Waititi said with a laugh. "So that's why it covered his entire back."

Before the tearful parting between Jane and Thor, she tells Thor that she's finally figured out a superhero catchphrase for herself. She leans in and whispers it. We never hear what she says.

We asked Waititi if she said anything.

"It's like, does Bill Murray ever really say anything to Scarlett Johansson in 'Lost in Translation'?" Waititi responded, referencing the memorable scene in Sofia Coppola's 2003 movie.

"Even when we were shooting it we were like, 'Yeah, we're just taking this from 'Lost in Translation,'" Waititi said.

However, Waititi joked about what the comment could have been.

"I would like to think it's something like, 'Your ass is still mine,'" Waititi told Insider with a laugh. "'Your ass will always be mine.'" Referring to how lovestruck Thor is towards Jane.

Since "Avengers: Infinity War" Thor has tagged along with the Guardians of the Galaxy, and for the marketing of "Thor: Love and Thunder" it seemed like that team-up was going to continue into the latest MCU movie.

However, it turned out "Love and Thunder" would mark when the Guardians and the strongest Avenger would part ways.

"The plan was always to have them in the beginning and then move on," Waititi told Insider. "Because they have their own movie."

The Guardians will return in their next standalone movie in 2023.

But Waititi did note that "there was talk about having them come back at the end" of "Love and Thunder," he said.

What ultimately led to that not happening was the fact that Marvel heroes swooping in at the end of MCU movies to help out other heroes in need is something that has been done a bunch of times before.

"No more. No more of the cavalry coming at the end," Waititi said. "So we shelved that idea. We just wanted Jane to come in at the end."

You might have seen that at the very end of the movie it says "Thor will be back."

It turns out, Waititi didn't put that in the movie.

"Well, guess what? That was a surprise to me, too," he told Insider.

"I'm not joking," the Oscar-winner continued. "I saw it in the theater and I was like, 'Oh, shit. Really?' Even Chris was like, 'What?' But, of course he'll be back. He's the best character. I mean, I may be a little biased, but he's the most fun to watch."

Waititi admits it's still too early to think about another Thor adventure.

"I don't know what would be next," he said. "I would definitely do one, but only if Chris did it. But it would need to be something surprising and unexpected for me to want to do it. Like what would be the new take?"

However, if he were to come back to direct the fifth movie in the franchise, he wants to do a very different story.

"The battles and all the fighting is fine, but I would want something that feels unexpected when it comes to the story," he continued. "Like making just a $5 million movie with no fighting at all, just Thor on a road trip. Like 'Nebraska.'"

"Nebraska" is a 2013 black-and-white independent movie directed by Alexander Payne starring Bruce Dern who goes on a road trip with his son, played by Will Forte, from Montana to Nebraska so Dern's character can claim a lottery ticket.

The movie earned six Oscar nominations, including best picture, best director for Payne, and best actor for Dern.