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Right now, Marvel Studios and its newly hired director Kenneth Branagh are wrestling with the difficulty of casting Thor. Sure, there’s a big push to cast Josh Hartnett either in the winged helmet and/or as nemesis Loki, which is ironic since Warner Bros once upon a time threw an amazing amount of money at him to play Superman but he refused. But my sources say there’s an equally powerful lobby to cast an unknown. I’ve heard that, besides Hartnett, the following actors are being tested: Charlie Hunnam (the British co-star of the F/X series Sons Of Anarchy); Tom Hiddleston (award-winning British actor and RADA graduate who played Winston Churchill’s son in HBO’s The Gathering Storm), Alexandar Skarsgard (Stellan’s son who has appeared in the HBO Iraq War miniseries Generation Kill and vampire drama True Blood, and who’s definitely visually right for the role), Liam Hemsworth (offered a significant role in The Expendables after Sly Stallone saw his tape), and Joel Kinnaman (some Swedish-American dude). Meanwhile, I’m told Natalie Portman is in the lead for the female lead. (So I guess Marvel wants a wooden performance…)
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Lets see tall blonde and with muscles. Maybe Tom Cruise will dye his hair blonde and revamp his Maverick image. Seriously the only Nordic actor left is Alexander Skarsgård according to Imdb.com. But who is he? Maybe they can make Kevin Costner look younger, because I cannot think of one blonde actor in film who fits the role of Thor. Voote.com lists Brad Pitt and Kieffer and Leonardo C as top blonde actors. I don’t see any of them in blue tights. Soooooooooo. Lets do a central casting to find a new face, someone like Robert Redford.
As for Natalie her performances are sort of maple like, she bends to the wind. I don’t remember her in Cold Mountain. In V for Vendetta she showed some emotion, but she was sort of like a weeping willow.
I thought her best performance was in Garden State where she played an oak tree with lots of nuts. I think she is sexy in that Get Smart type of way and she should stretch her roles. But Thor, no way. Scarlet J is at least Swedish and looks Nordic. Natalie could kiss her career good bye if she was in Thor. A better comic role in depth for Natalie would be in Spider man as Firestar
Charlie Hunnam ROCKS, he’d be great in this. Amazing actor and gorgeous as well.
Really, who cares?
In Thor, we have a property that isn’t as popular as the Hulk and less passionate fanboys than Watchmen.
I know Marvel wants the big Avengers integration, but box office fail begins with Hulk and intensifies with Thor.
Captain America? Eh.
Of course, the fanboys will claim otherwise and – as usual – will be wrong.
The public doesn’t know “Thor”, and the source material isn’t there to make them care. Casting an A list star (which none of the actors listed in in the article are) would be the only draw, then again, an unknown would help save some of the money that will surely be lost on this film.
Fyi, Scarlett isn’t Swedish, she has a Danish dad and a Jewish mutha.
Whoever it is, they need to hold their own onscreen with Robert Downey Jr, Ed Norton, Sam L. Jackson, Don Cheadle, and whoever plays Captain America. So we can go ahead and cross Hartnett and HHH off the list. Since this all will lead up to an Avengers ensemble orgy, Thor needs to be played by a name actor with chops. Too bad legitimately musclebound action heroes have been phased out by sensitive metrosexuals. Also, the Thor comics bored the shit out of me. My friend loved ‘em. Thor is a niche market and may not catch on with mainstream audiences.
i grew up on all the comics from the movies they are making. thor was one of my favorites. triple h couldn’t act his way out of a paper bag. i haven’t seen this name brought up so i’ll just throw this out for discussion. how about Karl Urban? he’s already got the medieval thing going with lord of the rings. not major enough of a character to be typed to that movie. also, he did a great job in that movie pathfinder which was viking related. so he is believable in the role. just wondering…………
Cast the excellent Alexander Skarsgard; give it a “Lord Of The Rings” feel … it’ll be great. Just don’t let it stick too closely to the graphic novel.
(giggles with delight) Charlie Hunnam as Thor!
Read my mind…muscles..loin cloth..intelligence..sensitvity…Gorgeeous looks ughhh! Can I get my ticket now?
Can you imagine Josh Hartnett playing Thor with that vacant expression? I’m not sure I can handle it.
At least Skarsgard was great in Generation Kill. Plus, he looks the part.
KARL URBAN (Éomer – Lord of the Rings) must be a Thor!!! Please, say to all!!!
Karl Urban is an interesting choice …. he’s 6’1″ which is passable according to the casting call … but I think he will turn 37 in June which may be too old to start the role of Thor.
I’m still supporting Skarsgard for this.
Fisrt of all people, lighten up. It’s a fucking comic book.
Second.Speaking of wooden. Has any one seen any of the George Clooney, Val Kilmer, Christian Bale, super hero performances? It’s the effects and the supporting cast that makes the picture because they know it’s a goof, have nothing to loose and everything to gain$$$$. Pity the fool who takes this lead. Amazing how box office justifies a performance. By the way, Brandon Routh was fantastic in Superman.
I’m sorry to throw cold water on this movie, but the whole Thor movie looks to be a real train wreck. It just doesn’t appear to have any broad appeal at all. I think this will make The Punisher movies look like classics.
Oh Christ, come on, Portman is a TERRIBLE actress. She hasn’t been good since Leon when she was 12. If she weren’t so stunningly beautiful (and she is) no one would give her a second thought.
C’mon, Josh Hartnett? Seriously? Has the guy EVER been in a good movie or shown good acting in a bad movie? He is UTTERLY devoid of presence and charisma. 40 Days & 40 Nights? Wicker Park? Lucky Number Slevin? The Black Dahlia? Hollywood Homicide? This squinty-eyed hillbilly robot has been in more bombs than were dropped on Pearl Harbor… oh, wait, he was the “star” of that bomb, also.
Not that Marvel is really skimming the cream of their library by making a “Thor” movie in the first place. In the 50+ years they’ve been publishing that lame book, they’ve never really found a good take on it — the alternative “Ultimates” version is probably the most interesting, but only when compared to other attempts.
The theme of the original Stan Lee Marvel Comics version of Thor is all about the penalties for hubris. Thor mouths off to dad, King of the Gods Odin, and Odin punishes super-strong Thor by imprisoning him inside the weak and feeble body of crippled human, Doctor Don Blake. All to teach Thor humility or somesuch malarkey. I haven’t read the script, but I’d bet Josh Harnett’s acting fee that they’ve ditched the whole trapped-inside-Blake storyline which means the film will just be about the wicked-ass adventures of a Demigod that no one’s worshipped since the Vikings converted to Jesus… and will, in other words, have no connection to anything human or interesting whatsoever to the average non-superhero theatergoer. Kinda like how there were no normal people in Watchmen, so normal people went “ehhhn…”
Marvel really hit the nail on the head with Iron Man: romance + an easy-to-understand-and-identify-with superhero moral lesson + good actors + good writing = Lots of Money. It’s why X-Men did so well: don’t pick on people because they’re different than you. It’s why the revamped Hulk did better than Ang Lee’s pretentious version — inside us all is an angry beast just looking to break out and here’s the story of a guy who let his out to horrible effect. It’s why Iron Man did so well — Arms dealer gets crippled by his own weapons and learns that war is bad. Spider Man? With great power comes great responsibility. Oh, but Man-Thing? Errr… not sure. The Punisher? “Don’t kill my family or you might get killed?” Not really up there with Spider-Man’s easy-to-get message. Thor is another one of these “what’s the point?” superheroes. If the film’s just about people punching one another through walls, well, we’ve seen that done to death now. Aim a tad bit higher.
And never, EVER, cast Josh Hartnett as anything but an android.
They need to advertise it as Marvel presents: Thor, Legend of the Norse God….it could be a series of flashbacks mixed in with modern day…..or history for half and modern with the last half leading up to avengers
Portman an Asgardian??? WTF?!?
Alexandar Skarsgard all the way. The guy can act. He can bring a quiet intensity to the role. Not sure about Portman though. She was good when she first started out, but now…its all about the paycheck.
Um, Tom Cruise… tall? There aren’t enough apple boxes in the world, my friend.
“I shall call him… Mini-Thor!”
Brad Pitt is the man for the role.
If not even Dicaprio with some special effects would look cool and add a third dimension to the character with his acting chops the way Robert Downey did with Iron Man.
HHH could be interesting too.
Should not go for unknowns…look at what happen to Superman. People should learn their lessons.
On Another note….Dwayne Johnson THE ROCK IS THE MAN TO PLAY THE PUNISHER.
There are a lot of worse actresses than Natalie Portman out there. Not that she’s bad, because when it comes down to it, she isn’t.
Natalie Portman IS wooden. She brought the Star Wars prequels down even lower than they already were. WAY overrated.
I have never read Thor so i don’t really know the comic. But I know of one high quality graphic novel i would like to see on the silver screen:Thorgal.For once i would like to see a good movie connected to vikings and norse mythology.
The idea of an ancient VIKING God in MANHATTAN sounds like a way cool movie. Problem is that this movie is set in ASGARD, land of the gods. If it is pretty hard to relate to SUPERMAN, it would be just as hard to relate to a the NORSE God of Thunder. That’s where Thor’s human alter ego, DR. DON BLAKE should come in.
THOR carries a magic HAMMER. that like the sword EXCALIBUR only the WORTHY can lift. He is the prince of the land, his power and strength is second only to his father, King ODIN, AND HE KNOWS IT. It is this arrogance and recklessness that will not go unpunished. So one day Odin will vanish Thor’s disembodied spirit from Asgard, to learn HUMILITY in the body of a disabled human.
Alexander Skarsgard as Thor, his father Stellan as Odin, Jude Law as his villanous brother Loki, Tom Cavanaugh or Kevin McKidd as Dr. Donald Blake, Anne Hathaway as Jane Foster, Natalie Portman might be fine as Lady Sif. Those are my casting suggestions for the Mighty Thor movie.