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MONDAY UPDATE: Marvel Studios Casts UK Actor Tom Hiddleston As 'Thor' Nemesis Loki
EXCLUSIVE: Talk about spot-on casting. I've just learned that Marvel Studios' Kevin Feige and director Kenneth Branagh have chosen their THOR -- and it's Chris Hemsworth, who 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 on 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 it cast Hemsworth in the action pic.) The 25-year-old Australian hunk is a virtual unknown here in the United States. But he played "Kim Hyde" on 171 episodes of Home and Away, the successful Oz TV series where Heath Ledger started. Hemsworth is repped by partner and co-founder William Ward at ROAR management and agent Ilene Feldman. Marvel Studios has scheduled Thor for a May 20, 2011, release.
The way Chris Hemsworth got the part of Thor is one of those great Hollywood backstories that happens only once in a blue moon. Ward had found Chris during one of the manager's many scouting trips to Australia. Ward brought him to Los Angeles and really put him out there to casting directors and production executives. As for the major agencies, I hear CAA passed on the meeting, Endeavor took it but passed on repping him, and ICM was interested but dragged their feet. But Ilene Feldman understood his appeal immediately.
Chris had read for the part of Thor but wasn't given a test because a casting director had nixed him early on. I'm told Chris' younger brother Liam (who's also a ROAR client) then tested for the role of Thor, but Marvel Studios President Kevin Feige passed. Then, after a conversation with Ward ("You've got to reconsider Chris, he's your guy"), Feige decided to let Chris read again. And once Marvel put him on tape, it was "Oh my god". Branagh came to town last week and saw the Chris test and made the final casting decision today.
What a week for Chris since, on Thursday, UA picked him as the Red Dawn lead. Brother Liam, who's only been in Los Angeles for 3 weeks and doesn't even have an agent yet, just got cast the male lead in Last Song opposite Miley Cyrus in the Disney film based on the Nicholas Sparks novel. Both brothers live in William Ward's guest house. Unreal!
Thor's character, in a nutshell, is the Viking god of thunder who wears a winged helmet and speaks in King James Bible-style English, as well as referring to himself in the third person as “the Odinson.” He wields a magic hammer, and can “fly” by throwing the hammer really hard and hanging on to it. Not only is there the movie Thor, but he'll also be interacting later with the likes of Iron Man and Hulk. Marvel tapping Kenneth Branagh is considered a smart move to elevate the pic since the UK helmer has so much experience with Shakespearean battle movies.
For months now, I've been tracking this Thor process though casting directors, agents and the like. Daniel Craig reportedly turned down the lead role. Other names reputedly in consideration were Rome’s Kevin McKidd and WWE champion Triple-H, who previously entered the Marvel universe as a villainous vampire in Blade: Trinity. And also a host of little knowns. (See my previous, Those Who Would Play Thor: Unknowns?) The following actors were 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), Liam Hemsworth (offered a significant role in The Expendables after Sly Stallone saw his tape), and Joel Kinnaman (some Swedish-American dude).
I'd heard Marvel wanted to finalize casting Thor this month. The pic's release was recently pushed back from July 16, 2010, to now May 20, 2011.
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nice story but he was terrible in Star Trek. Hope with a larger part and a more actor-ly-inclined director he’ll shine. This movie is an enormous gamble and could destroy careers if it doesn’t transcend the awkwardness and many embarrassing quirks of its source material.
Solid casting – definitely seemed to have charisma in the Trek movie
Thor is a pretty difficult character to cast so let’s hope Marvel knows what they’re doing with this pick. Regardless, what matters most is the script. There’s a wealth of great material in the comics so I would hope Branagh has been studying them closely.
I was hoping Thor was going to be Alexander Skarsgård. I wonder if he was offered and passed? Glad it isn’t Daniel Craig he seems a bit old for the part.
Thy Odinson art cast? I say thee aye!
Sorry for the geekout, but man is this interesting! Even more interesting will be the pairing of Hemsworth with the thesp Branagh helming.
I see that Marvel wants a Dawson’s Creek Thor, just like JJ Abrams’ Star Trek.
After watching Star Trek I had pegged this guy as perfect for Captain America. As long as he’s fairly big, he’s a good choice for Thor. I too would have preferred Alexander Skarsgard, but Hemmsworth doesn’t bother me. Just hope the movie’s good!
Was the guy from Adventures in Babysitting busy?
i thought that Skarsgard was actually Branagh’s preference? oh well, so long as its good and we dont need a “reboot” 3 years later. but Marvel is actually doing it so it shouldnt be half bad. (i cite Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk)
Marvel has been doing a bang-up job putting their projects together lately, pairing interesting characters with daring casting and directing choices (Ed Norton was perfect in Hulk, Downey and Favreau were ideal in Iron Man – plus robobabing Gweneth Paltrow – and Sam Jackson – while I would never have thought of him – now seems perfect for Nick Fury.) The major studios can learn from the Maison d’Avi.
I’m reading on other sites that nothing is confirmed. While I trust Nikki I’m going to keep my fingers crossed Alexander Skarsgård gets it until I see Nikki’s famous TOLDJA!
Home and Away has spawned quite a bit of Hollywood talent, including ‘Nip/Tuck’s’ Julian McMahon and ‘King’s’ Chris Egan
the reality is that NO ONE wants to see this movie, even comic book fans. How will Norse mythology be accessible to American audiences? Answer: IT WON’T! That’s why viking movies never work. GOOD LUCK MARVEL!
Couldn’t have happened to a nicer kid. Glad to see him moving on up. Plus I hear he’s hung like an iron fox.
Thanks for getting us the info! So glad that they’ve finally chosen someone. Now let’s get this movie started so that the release date doesn’t have to get pushed back yet again.
IN A WORLD filled with labor-saving power tools, a new kind of superhero emerges to do battle in the 21st century…and he carries a hammer. His name? THOR!
“Fer fook’s sake, this bloody thing is heavy! Why couldn’t they have given me a nail gun? Alright lads, time to light the barbie. Oy! Which one of you tossers nicked me Fosters? Kirk to Enterprise: Beam me up, Scotty. There’s no intelligent life on this film set!”
This hasn’t been confirmed tho, but this guy does look pretty spot on as Donald Blake, aka the Norse God of Thunder.
Uh, sooo…who plays Blake?
“That’s why viking movies never work.” – did I really just read that?
As to his size, I wouldn’t be surprised if they pulled a “reverse hobbit look(LOTR)” when he becomes Thor – enlarge him to 7 foot 5 in the frame when he is the Odinson.
Should have been Skarsgard.
On behalf of CAA let me apologize for what happened. We really would like to represent this kid now that he’s hot. The fact that we didn’t realize he’d be hot is irrelevant. He’s hot now and that makes us want him. Of course if Thor flops we won’t be interested in him at all. In the meantime we’d be happy to sign him.
To the Thor naysayers, a few years back a lot of people were saying that Iron Man couldn’t possibly be financially viable because he was a second-tier Marvel character that not enough people were familiar with. When you put talented people in charge of these characters, they will soar.
Nice to hear stories like this. Congrats to the guy
oh pfff what a load of crap, Alex Skarsgard would’ve been the perfect man for the job, and if Brannagh didn’t see that he’s just fooling himself… this is gonna suck…
Good choice and this is not a Viking movie. I’ve read the script (before revisions) and it’s nothing short of incredible. Lord of the Rings meets Clash of the Titans.
Excellent choice.
And to “some guy”, you do not know what you are saying. Hollywood was buzzing on who is going to play Thor. Fans (even non-thor fans) always discuss who will play thor. Branagh gets asked all the time regarding who will play Thor. I wonder why you said “no one wants to see this film”? Limit your comments to your own opinion, and do not include the rest of us.
Ever since I saw Star Trek, I knew Chris Hemsworth is perfect for Thor. 6′3, a young Brad Pitt, and can act? Perfect Thor. But he may be a bit young for Natalie Portman (rumored to play the female lead).
Well… it’s HULK all over again… I mean, the first one.
IN A WORLD where evildoers commit crimes with the latest in high-tech weaponry, a new kind of superhero emerges to do battle in the 21st century…and he carries a hammer. His name? THOR!
“Fer fook’s sake, I can hardly move in all this body armor! And who puts dove’s wings on a battle helmet anyway? Cut to commercial! Oh wait, this is a feature, isn’t it? Come on, get this stuff off me. I’ve got to go to the loo!”
I don’t know what script you read ‘Ed’, but the one i read was horrible. It was like a 1950’s Charlton Heston screenplay, overly dramatic and a lot of posturing.
As for the kid, and his hot brother, good for them. I wish they were living in my guest house.
I’m really happy for Will Ward and his colleagues Kim Callahan and Jordan Tilzer. Those guys have worked really hard for Chris Hemsworth and have done an incredible job taking an unknown actor from Australia and putting him in position to be the next big movie star. Congrats to Hemsworth!
Someone better tell IMDB since they have Alexander Skarsgard listed as playing Thor.
This is pretty dumb casting for Thor, ’cause he looks like CAPTAIN AMERICA.
NF: You might want to re-read this article. I’d say you’ve forever stricken “I don’t do geek” from your vocabulary.
I have to laugh at the comment that Daniel Craig is too old to play Thor. You’ve got it wrong – this guy is TOO YOUNG to play Thor. Thor, like Iron Man’s Tony Stark, is NOT some wet behind the ears twenty-something. He’s late-30s to mid-40s. So I find the casting of a 25 year-old rather strange after Marvel pursued Brad Pitt and Daniel Craig for so long. Hopefully if they ever do that Avengers movie they keept talking about they’ll do it with younger actors because Robert Downey, Jr. is going to look like an old man next to this kid!
When I think of Thor I think of those Viking-like warriors from Schwarzenegger’s Conan the Barbarian. Not young, but old and powerful warriors with full beards, bulging biceps, and numerous battle scars. Hemsworth looks like an extra on Baywatch.
I am soooooooooo disappointed that Vladimir Kulich did not get the part!! He would have been the perfect fit….
Triple H would have been the perfect everything if you look at him he is thor. WTF are the people thinking casting this scrawny guy. I doubt Hemsworth will THor justice.
You got that right triple h would be perfect . when i see him i see THOR!! Have they seen any THOR comics?? Maybe capt. a but not THOR
All the people whining that an older actor should play Thor need to read their comics a little closer — nowhere has it ever established that Thor is in his 30s-40s. In fact, if you go back to the early Lee/Kirby, he is indeed a young man.
atleast this means we’re one step closer to an Avengers movie
HUGE mistake not casting Skarsgard if this is true.
For all those who keep ragging on the age thing…
Thor is an immortal Thunder God, dopes. He is not thirty, he is not twenty, he is not forty. He’s THOUSANDS OF YEARS OLD! What about “immortal thunder god” escapes your limited imaginations?
Sam Worthington or John Cena should be considered as Thor.
okay, triple h is big…that’s the only reason he could play thor, but can he act??? not that much, just maybe grunt or something. you ppl need toremember that actors and actresses and good scripts and good directors MAKE agood movie!
thor like all heroes of marvel is a huge
guy with huge muscles chris is hardly in
that catagory.he’s under 6ft and hardly muscular.
we now building muscle suits for these parts.
i mean thor is no little guy and chis is average
looking guy in size.is the costume going to
cover him up to make him look like a super hero?
Once again the ego of a director will ruin a perfectly good film. No Alexander…no Charlie, Branagh wanted someone he could mold after himself as Thor, whateva man!
I would have rathered a Thor that looked older that appears as if he has been in many battles in the past. I just hope they know what they are doing. I was pleased with Iron Man and The Incredible Hulk. I do hope this one follows them, but I am having my doubts. He does look more like an ideal Captain America.
I think the red headed guy (can’t think of his name) from “Grey’s Anatomy” and the movie “Dog Soldiers” would have been perfect for Thor.
WTF?!
This guy ist NOT the right guy to play the MIGHTY Thor!
AWESOME!!! I CAN’T WAIT, IM SO STOKED ABOUT THIS MOVIE!!!!
I will never accept an ex Home and Away reject as Thor. They should have stuch with Alexander Skarsgard.
Jeez…can Hollywood be ANY MORE BANKRUPT ON IDEAS? They’ve been milking the Movies-Based-On-Comic-Books-Noone-Read-Anyway thing for WAY too long man….please Hollywood…run out of comic books already and bring some good scripts to the screen. Stop beating this horse, already.
Batman 19, Superman (even though the redo’s sucked), Fantastic Four (laughable), Xmen (most of them, OK), Spiderman (ugh), Hulk (horrible), Iron Man (decent), Daredevil (among the worst movies ever budgeted), Night Rider (Cage adds more fuel to his smoldering acting career), Aquaman (in the works), Thor (you’ve gotta be kidding me)….Jeez…enough already.
Next bandwagon to jump on: Redo’s of movies that sucked back in the 80’s….first into production: Blackula 2010
PepperSprayMan your in the minority. What dead horse? THESE HAVE BEEN NOT ONLY FINACIALLY BUT VISUALLY SUCCESSFUL!!! Look at the good ratings and money getting generated by the spiderman, Xmen, F4, ad iron man etc MOVIES. You must be kidding, your a troll. By the way, if noone read marvel’s comics, than how would they have most of share in market of comic books? Stop acting 7
Ken…you’re cheerleading comic books and I’m acting 7? It’s hard typing whilst hysterically laughing and yes…precisely what I’m saying is that like most formulas that Hollywood finds as a safe endeavor…it has beaten the comic-turned-movie well into the ground.
There have been a handful of decent/good ones, very much eclipsed by the absolutely horrible ones…and I’m NOT talking about box office numbers. I’m talking about putting out a good movie for people to watch. (e.g. NOT Ghost Rider, Fantastic Four, Hulk I/II, Daredevil, The latest X-men which blows, Spiderman I/II, Latest Superman I/II, Blade “Trinity” (haha), Catwoman (HAHAHA…notice capital letters)…and surely, this Thor bullcrap)
Jeez…my fingers are getting tired typing all of these bombs. Cheerio!
“Lord of the Rings meets Clash of the Titans”
That’s meaningless.
Oh, boy. Here we go with another one of those elitist snobs who hates everything that is based on a comic book. I don’t understand folks who come to sites to troll. I am wondering if they are getting their information about said movies from critics or are they actually watching them? If they are getting the info from others, then they can’t rightfully pass judgment. It they are getting it first hand by actually viewing the films, then that begs the question: “If these movies are so horrible, why do they continue to watch them?” I know if I hated those flicks that much I would not waste my time seeing them nor would I go to message boards to troll.
BORN IN 1983!?!?!?!?!? Since when do we have bloody teenagers playing Norse Gods?? We need a MAN, not a little boy to play Thor. Plus he is not even Scandinavian- the dude is Austrailian (a bit far south of the Nordic countries, don’t you think?). What happened to Alex Skarsgaard? He fits the bill! He is a MAN (b. 1974) and he is Swedish born; not to ment tion the son of great Swedish actor Skellan Skarsgaard. I think Kenneth Branaugh needs to read up on Norse Mythology a lot more and realize he is making some terrible choices.
hey 1983 is ummm..25 not a teenager. I know I know math is hard….
OK…Read through the comments, some of them laughable, others irritating.
Comic book movies aren’t a “dead horse” to be beaten; that’s like saying every single novel in the history of humankind has been adapted into a feature film, and now we’re scraping the bottom of the barrel. Not even close, obviously, and the same hold very true for comics.
If people are going to remain short-sighted and ignorant to the great, powerful literature behind a comic book cover, that’s fine. But to stereotypically call the medium “immature” in any sense of the word is, as was said, totally ignorant. Comics have evolved so, so very much in the last decade, some of the books on the shelves these days could be assigned in any Creative Writing class in any college, and be perfectly acceptable. But because those words are brought to life by (usualy incredible)pictures, there’s still far too many individuals out there that will forever turn a cold shoulder to them. Again, that’s fine.
But to say NOBODY reads them, NOBODY cares about them, the movies all suck, they don’t make money, etc. have to be some of the most foolish comments. As far as the movies go, only a handful of the most recognized properties have been adapted into films by Marvel and DC, with of course the scattered smaller books like “30 Days of Night” and “Sin City”. To say comic movies have been done to death is just a little bit much, don’t you think? We haven’t even gotten to Green Lantern, Black Panther, Captain America, Luke Cage, Iron Fist, The Flash, Wonder Woman, etc. So once those get made, once we start seeing things like “Power Pack”, “Slapstick”, and “Skrull Kill Krew” getting turned into movies, THEN I might suggest slowing down a bit.
But as it stands, if YOU don’t want to watch a movie, DON’T WATCH IT. Box Office numbers and audience demand don’t lie; comic book movies are obviously still popular enough to get a damn good buzz going, even before casting is official. You’re tired of seeing these films? Speak with your wallet. If you’re truly the majority, then the movie will fail and you’ll get your wish. Otherwise, STFU, sit down, and go watch “Twilight” with the rest of the troll-ghouls.
Oh…and, Nick Fury is supposed to be white. Wolverine is supposed to be short. Iron Man is supposed to be drunk. Abomination is supposed to look like a fish-man. Deadpool shouldn’t look like Baraka. Thor isn’t supposed to be young. Yeah, well…GET OVER IT AND WATCH THE FREAKIN’ MOVIE!!! Seriously, do YOU people get some kind of enjoyment being whiney punks about everything? How about wait until you at least see a damn trailer before you wash your hands of something?
Idiots…Useless…
I couldn’t agree more, Big Money. Well said! I myself have been a fan of the Odinson since comics sold for 12 cents, and I can’t Frakkin’ WAIT for this movie to come out!
i have been reading marvel comics since 1967 and i know enough to say marvel character thor is the most colorful exciting interesting of any superhero in the marvel universe. thor has been ignored/disrespected far too long. daredevil x-men FF ghostrider punisher movies should never have been made before a thor movie and frankly i have seen enough x-men & hulk.let us see some new & different superheroes from the marvel house of ideas. start with thor & captain america also think about avengers vs x-men hulk vs thor namor vs ironman
the most shocking casting is the director. Had no-one at Marvel watched KB’s dirge over the last decade. The guy can act – but direct?…expect earnest ‘art’.
Can Americans be cast in anything these days? Say what? 3 weeks and he’s already a US citizen?!
How about Paul Telfer? Just look at the NBC miniseries Hercules. One, he’s pretty good-looking. Two, he’s muscular (at least he was in 2005). Three, he’s a decent actor. Four, experience at portraying a god. Just bleach his hair & he’ll be great!
Local aussie boy does good! If the script is solid and surely Kenneth bring a multitude of talent to the table, this should be a blockbuster. Can’t wait. Go Chris, soak up all that experience around you and go for gold mate.
They should have casts Vladimir Kulich who was the Viking leader in The 13th Warrior. Perfect look for Thor in that movie. Too bad that by the time they got around to casting, they no doubt thought he was too old for the part. Alexander Skarsgard may be okay on True Blood but he is too light a build to play Thor, despite the height. Even Alexander says he has a light build.
please please please! there is no way to do this without making thor look larger than your average man, and he must be significantly larger. if gandalf in lord of the rings can appear bigger than the hobbits there has to be a way to pull this off without turning him cgi. remember how stupid the thing looked in the ff movies. this norse god has to be larger than life. has to, otherwise, it will be incredible hard to suspend disbelief.
Thor is a mighty, big boned, rock solid, big drinking, loud laughing, giant killing, and heavy hammer swinging God of Thunder. Chris Hemsworth “might” work if Thor was a lightly toned femmed out glam pre-teen male still waiting for his balls to drop, but according to Eddas an thousands of years worth of Norse, Germanic and Icelandic history, such is not the case…
For everyone saying that he doesn’t have to look like Thor to pull it off I would like to remind you about the guy from “That 70s Show” as Venom. How did that work out? For Exhibit B I would like to direct your attention to the Dragon Ball movie. Looks do matter, at least a little.
Oh and Big Money
Nick Fury-Samual L. Jackson can pull it off. He’s probably an immprovement over anyone else they could cast because nobody cares if Nick Fury is white or black.
Wolverine-Wolverine is not known for being short. He’s known for kicking butt and being tough. A taller Wolverine is an improvement.
Abomination-Obviosely an improvement over a fish-man so who cares?
Thor-In the comics Thor is the type of guy who would make most bad guys pee in their costumes before he even started using his powers. He’s a really big, intimidating guy. Having some pretty boy play Thor is obviously not an improvement.
hey sounds good
everybody is better than Brandon Routh- the true Superman Murder
I have been a Thor fan for a long time. As a kid I thought he was just t coolest thing in t entire Marvel universe and I would have to say that was probably my most favorite comic book until probably t new X-Men came out. Still tho, Thor was often problematic. If he was not involved in an epic quest of some sort (and often even those fell flat), there often was not anything for him to do. And if t major charactors talking in King James English is not something that grabs you then there is also that to contend with. I often thought it was cool personaly.
Another small point here; while yes Thor is an Imortal of Asgard and age doesnot mean t same as it does to us puny mortals it apearently has some signifigence as Odin is obviosly older than Thor. Plus I am pretty sure that I have at least ocasionaly seen children running around Asgard.
T last I read, Renne Russo is set to play Odin’s wife. I’d of thought her being too young would be more of a wrong age concern. Tho I, myself,havnot seen her in too much since she looked good in that Clint Eastwood secret service movie.
B