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MONDAY 6:15 PM: TOLDJA! Marvel Studios has just confirmed Tom Hiddleston as Loki.
EXCLUSIVE MONDAY UPDATE: I’ve learned that Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and Thor director Kenneth Branagh have cast their Loki, the nemesis to the lead in Thor set for release on May 20, 2011. He’s Tom Hiddleston, unknown to American audiences but an award-winning British actor and Royal Academy Of Dramatic Arts (RADA) graduate. He played Winston Churchill’s son in HBO’s The Gathering Storm, but, more to the point, note that Hiddleston starred in Ivanov opposite Sir Kenneth on the London stage and also starred with him in the BBC miniseries Wallander. In 2008, Hiddleston was nominated twice for the Laurence Olivier Stage Award for Best Newcomer – for his roles in Othello and Cymbeline. He won for the latter.
Marvel Studios won’t confirm my news, but Hiddleston had been considered as a possible Thor. See my previous, ’Thor’: Unknowns? There had been a big Internet push to cast Josh Hartnett in the Loki role but instead Marvel went with an unknown. This follows my news of the weekend casting of 25-year-old Aussie actor Chris Hemsworth as Thor since Branagh was in town to finalize the principal cast. See my previous, EXCLUSIVE: Chris Hemsworth Is ‘Thor’.
I hear the Marvel Studios press release about both castings is being written and should be released soon. Chris Hemsworth also a virtual unknown to American audiences, yet he was approved to play the lead role in Thor by Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige and the film’s director Kenneth Branagh. Hemsworth can currently be seen as “George Kirk” in J.J. Abrams’ Star Trek reboot and also just snagged the lead in Red Dawn for United Artists last Thursday. (He’s currently filming Joss Whedon’s horror flick Cabin In The Woods for UA, and I heard the studio was so hot on him that’s why it cast Hemsworth in the action pic.) The 25-year-old hunk played “Kim Hyde” on 171 episodes of Home and Away, the successful Oz TV series where Heath Ledger started. The way Chris Hemsworth got the part of Thor is one of those great Hollywood stories that happens only once in a blue moon. I have all the details here.
Editor-in-Chief Nikki Finke - tip her here.
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Thanks for the breaking news Nikki, been waiting to hear something official with this for months…
LOL Home and Away is widely known as the bedrock of bad australian acting. Then again, it’s where Heath Ledger started and a few others like Follow the white rabbit matrix girl is still on it.
Great – another Aussie. Australia’s biggest export to the US must be actors/actresses.
And they are actually pretty damn good at what they do to boot.
So it goes…
Who knows how he’ll do in Thor? He was kind of the weak link in Star Trek, especially since it was a well written part. He was heroic but at no moment did I get a “future superstar” vibe from him.
But Marvel is smart not to go spending millions on a name for this part. This is Branagh’s show and the movie will hit or miss based on how convincingly he can create the onscreen Asgard.
I’m still hung up on Alexandar Skarsgard being in it. Maybe he can still get a role. Bad guy maybe?
Eric the vampire doesn’t belong in this movie. He isn’t a good vampire, and although he does look very nordic he just doesn’t look like a god. he doesn’t make a very good vampire, either. Except to the fat women and gay guys that Like true Blood. Not that there is anything wrong with being fat or gay. im just saying who watches the show.
This SHOULD have been Alex Skarsgard frankly Branagh has lost his marbles if he thinks this is a good casting choice.
Perhaps he had little say and its been forced on him either way this movie will turn out to be another “Frankenstein” for him.
He was the wrong Director from day one and what little good buzz this project seemed to spark amongst us geeks just got quashed by a minor australian soap actor.
It doesn’t matter who you cast – there is NO WAY YOU CAN MAKE THOR COOL in a movie. This is a muscular blond nordic man with a giant hammer and a helmet with wings. no matter what you do, there’s no getting around it. Marvel should not do this movie. It’s a loser and wll also poison ‘the avengers’ franchise.
BAD BAD BAD IDEA.
They can change his costume as much as they like. So no he doesn’t have to wear a helmet any more then Wolverine had to wear yellow spandex. The concept is very cool. Its a Nordic god of thunder fighting his half brother the trickster. I think it works. He doesn’t have to be beefy. He doesn’t even have to be blond, although he probably will be.Its a movie based on a comic. Not the acting out of a comic with live puppets.
note that Tom Hiddleston starred in IVANOV opposite Sir Kenneth on the London stage and also starred with him in the BBC miniseries WALLANDER…
Wait.
Kenneth Branagh is DIRECTING “Thor”?
Hee Hee Hee Hee…
(I’m trying so hard not to laugh)
Hee Hee Hee Hee…
Tom Hiddleston is a brilliant actor. I have seen him in a number of plays and in films as well. He is going to royally smash this part. Hemsworth is great as well. I think this movie is gonna rock.
interesting indeed…
Here’s a Hwood question: anyone hiring Americans? Oh yeah, for some TV…
How about hiring some AMERICAN ACTORS? What’s with the collective boners for Australians and the English? I know, I’ll move to Australia, come back with an accent, and then CAA will sign me and give me a major push. G_d knows going the traditional American route of studying acting here and having a normal accent doesn’t work anymore. Ridiculous. And yes, I’m bitter.
Matt– there is NO WAY YOU CAN MAKE THOR COOL in a movie.
Maybe that’s the point of the character. A big brawny throwback to a mythological standard of idealized old fashioned heroism, who just doesn’t fit into the hip Wolverine-esque bad-ass mold.
Will it sell to audiences? If the filmmakers bring in the right amount of heroic fantasy and modernity, it could work.
F– Here’s a Hwood question: anyone hiring Americans?
I can’t think of any American actor in the Thor age-range that could pull off the character. A role like Thor requires the actor to sell the part whole hog. It requires an actor be broad, and veer close to being hammy, without touching it. A role like this requires the sort of classical theater style that Branagh knows very well. Hopefully he can train this young Australian properly for the part.
The problem with the American talent pool right now is there is a dearth of masculine actors – and even more so if you require any acting of the ones who are around… Supply and Demand, if American supply is short, demand foreigners.
@NYC
Skarsgard should have gotten the role. He certainly looks the part, is a solid actor, and has developed a very strong following among some key demos thanks to his HBO roles (especially his turn on “True Blood”, which would have helped broaden this testosterone-heavy pic’s appeal to women). Maybe he turned it down? I can’t see any other reason he wouldn’t be Thor. If that wasn’t the case, consider this the first mistake of the film’s production (and its a Duesy).
And LOL @ those clamoring for an American actor to play…a Scandinavian role.
Thor is no more a Scandanavian role, then Dracula is a Transelvanian role. its an American comic, so its more natural to see a American actor. I don’t see why an Aussie would not work, though. they have the right spirit. Sort of at one with nature and all that.
Thank God Kenny boy passed on that WWE tool, Triple H. The fact that the roid freak was even under consideration blows me away.
@Matt,
That was my initial reaction. However, I think there is potential in the property. Think “Lord of the Rings” meets “Blade”, and with Branagh at the helm, its got a chance. With the right script this could do well (but that’s always the case, isn’t it?).
And speaking of Branagh, he’s great in “Wallander”. He needs to get in front of US cameras more often.
please jimmy page for the soundtrack
@mjolnir
A Zep-heavy soundtrack would rule SO FREAKIN’ HARD. You could do so much with the pairing of 70′s hard-rock and this movie. Having become familiar with the sound through “Rock Band” and “Guitar Hero”, Gen Y’ers and the Millenniums would eat it up, and X’ers and Boomers would love the nostalgia factor.
I was scratching my head when Marvel announced this project, but I think if its done right, it could be really big.
matt, shuddap!!! you do not know the fuck what you are talking about. a big blonde muscular god with a hammer sounds very kewl.
just because you do not like the concept, doesn’t mean it’s the same for the rest of us.
Do not pressume to speak for the rest of us.
“thor is poison to the avengers”? really? i suppose a blonde soldier with a shield defines “cool” in your perverted world.
Yeah, Matt, no way a guy dressed like a viking berzerker wielding a battle hammer will look “cool”. Too bad Thor doesn’t wear fake rubber muscles, a halloween mask, or tights with spiderwebs printed on them; he’ll have to settle for appealing to that pathetically small number of moviegoers that liked LORD OF THE RINGS…
I totally concur Johnny Marshall. Alexander Skarsgard was clearly the man for the part. No disrespect intended to Chris Hemsworth, who I’m sure is an up-and-comer. I see the pass on Skarsgard as a very bad omen for the project. But, perhaps its fortuitous for Skarsgard if he’s looking to be taken seriously as an actor. True Blood may be enough genre work for moment.
I have no problem with this actor but he just doesn’t look much like Thor. Thor is a huge man. He can lift over 100 tons and take Hulk’s best punches and keep on going. This guy looks like he’s 120 lbs soaking wet.
I will put this in my “Who Cares?” file.
If this is anything like the comic book it has no choice but to suck anyway.
Think: Flash Gordon with lightning bolts.