Taika Waititi Reveals Surprising Inspiration For Thor 4 Screaming Goats

Thor: Love and Thunder writer/director Taika Waititi reveals the surprising inspiration behind the Marvel movie's screaming goats – Taylor Swift. The latest entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe premiered in theaters this past weekend, raking in $143 million, the third biggest opening weekend of the year behind Jurassic World Dominion and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness. However, the fourth Thor movie has been met with mixed reviews from critics who claim it pales in comparison to its MCU predecessor, Waititi's Ragnarok.

Love and Thunder finds Chris Hemsworth's Thor teaming up with Natalie Portman's Jane Foster a.k.a The Mighty Thor, Tessa Thompson's Valkyrie, and the soft-spoken rock warrior Korg (voiced by Waititi) in order to defeat Christian Bale's Gorr the Butcher. Other than these new and returning characters and exciting plot developments, one of the most anticipated elements of Love and Thunder was its goats. In the movie, the magical goats act as additional sidekicks for the primary protagonists and as chariot for their ship as they travel from New Asgard to Omnipotence City and the Shadow Realm. However, the goats' incessant screaming has left audiences with many questions about the inexplicable creative choice.

During a recent interview with Insider, Waititi revealed the surprising inspiration behind Love and Thunder's screaming goats. The MCU film's writer/director says they never planned for the goats to be able to scream until some unlikely inspiration presented itself – a Taylor Swift meme. Read Waititi explain the full backstory behind the screaming goats below:

"They were never meant to be screaming. The goats were always going to be in there because they are in the comics, but we didn't know how they would sound. 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. So I heard the screaming goats, and I just felt it was awesome. A lot of people think it's me screaming. It's not.

"I think one of the vendors that was making the CG goats, they just added the Taylor Swift song 'Trouble,’ but the fan-made one with the goat sounds, and we just thought it was so funny. So it was just a shot of how the CG creatures were coming along, it wasn't meant for the film or anything, it was just an update. And the screams were freakin' awesome."

Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder in Thor Love and Thunder.

Love and Thunder introduces a pair of magical goats, named Toothgnasher and Toothgrinder, who are actually based on animals from Norse mythology – Tanngrisnir and Tanngnjóstr. Now, the world famous pop star can be added to the list of inspiration for the screaming goats. While the inspiration from Norse mythology and the comics was planned from the beginning, it wasn't until post-production that a member of the VFX team found the Taylor Swift meme and added the sound to a couple of test shots, an example of Waititi's on-the-fly style of filmmaking which was met with glowing reviews on 2017's Ragnarok, but have taken a slight dip for Love and Thunder.

The Taylor Swift song in question is 2012's "I Knew You Were Trouble," which was memed with a video featuring a screaming goat replacing a line from the chorus. It's not unlike Waititi for his intergalactic Thor adventures to take inspiration from popular culture, as Ragnarok featured a gag involving a Shake Weight and Karl Urban's Skurge. Waititi now continues this tradition on Thor: Love and Thunder. Though the inspiration for the screaming goats may be less apparent, the result is hilarious nonetheless, even though the goats' wailing may become grating after a while.

Next: Why Thor Has Goats In Love & Thunder (Marvel History Explained)

Source: Insider