Exclusive Interview with Rachel House – Topaz in Thor: Ragnarok

Did you go see Thor: Ragnarok in theaters this weekend? This third Thor Marvel film is now showing and you should run, not walk, to your theater to see it! Thanks to Marvel Studios I was able to attend the premiere in LA and interview the cast afterward. Below you’ll find my exclusive interview with Rachel House – Topaz in Thor: Ragnarok.

Exclusive Interview with Rachel House

You may know her as the voice of Gramma Tala {the crazy old village lady!} in Disney Moana. Now she is gracing the big screen as Topaz in Thor: Ragnarok.

You made us laugh and cry in Moana. What was that like transforming to this character? 

Kind of easy-ish. It’s a kind of character that Taika always makes me play. 

It’s funny, because I just play all these really mean characters. I’m not mean at all. I’m sort of really ‘ewww’ about meanness. So, I think he kind of enjoys that. 

How hard was it to keep a straight face during filming with all the deadpan scenes?

You know, I’m pretty used to keeping a straight face, because I’ve done a lot of Taika’s films and it’s always like that. But some of the other actors weren’t so good at it. They were like losing it. 

Like they were seriously losing it, especially Jeff Goldblum, because he was so funny. And, you know, I mean, that’s not even half of it – what you see. It’s not even a quarter of the improvisation and stuff that we were doing, you know? And Jeff was just so masterful at improvisation. 

Did you have a scene that didn’t make it into the film you loved?

There’s a lot, I believe that they’re gonna do a little kinda gag reel maybe…with the release of the DVD. There’s a whole thing we do with writing out a check, which is so bizarre in that environment. I’m kind of giving instructions on how to write out a check in my stupid accent as well. It’s pretty funny I think. But yeah, Jeff Goldblum was fabulous. 

There was this whole scene where Jeff does a song at the keyboard. It was really cool. I mean, I think he had a tiny little bit to kind of go with, but then he just kept expanding. As you know, he is a wonderful jazz musician anyway. So, he just expanded that, and then I was sort of his back up, really bad back up singer as well. So, that didn’t make it in, which is a bummer.

What’s your favorite part about working with Taika? 

Just the fun. I mean, this is the first massive film he’s done. The others were very independent, therefore we had a very limited amount of time to shoot.

And we had to literally run around the bush, and the mud, and the snow, and the rain. It was a lot of fun. But we had no time, you know? So, we just had to keep going. Whereas, in Thor because of the scale I think as well, we got to kind of breath a little bit. So Taika was allowed to play as much as possible. That was really great seeing him able to do that without any kind of time restraint.

How did you first get approached for this film? Did Taika come straight to you? 

No, he didn’t. I got a top-secret kind of audition that I had to do through my agent. And she said, “Oh, it’s for Marvel.” And I said, “Well, that’ll be Taika.” And she went, “Oh yeah, of course, it will.” Then I was given this tiny little saying with a few lines. And then when it, um, did a, a tape with, you know, ‘cause it’s, New Zealand is so small, so one of my buddies, who’s a casting director, [LAUGHS] you know, he filmed. It was just like doing it [

Then I was given this tiny little saying with a few lines. New Zealand is so small, so one of my buddies, who’s a casting director filmed it. Then I sent it off. And then I got a very kind of drawl email from Taika saying, “Oh, by the way, you got the role.” You know, which is really lovely.

I think he kind of makes the role what he wanted to see me do, even though most of it hasn’t ended up in the film, but that’s okay. It’s okay. There’s better stuff in the film.

Was it intimidating to step into the Marvel universe? 

Yes! I’m from New Zealand, of course, it was. But you get over that really quickly. You know, when you meet people, there are so many wonderful people involved in the Marvel universe. And, they’re just people. They’re just normal people, talented people. So, the intimidation didn’t last long. 

What did you find most challenging as a performer on set every day? 

To be honest, my costume. It was really stiff. It was hard to move. And also, when we were doing that spaceship scene, like I was grr, because it’s quite stiff. It’s beautifully made. The costume designer is out of this world. But that was a bit hard to move in, you know? 

You’ve been coined as Taika’s good luck charm. How do you feel about that? 

Yeah, not good, because when you put that out there, you know, it can reverse. And for that, I was really scared. I was like, no, because before the film had come out, I was thinking, oh no, maybe that’s gonna, you know, implode. But it didn’t, thank goodness!

Rachel House was so friendly to chat with. I look forward to seeing what else she and Taika end up working on together. I can see many things ahead!