Chris Hemsworth has been cast as Thor!
Not only will he play him in Branagh’s solo ‘Thor’ film, he will also play Thor in the Summer 2012 superhero team-up film The Avengers, so he’s managed to land himself a fair amount of future work. Hemsworth is relatively unknown but if you’ve seen J.J. Abrams Star Trek, you know him as George Kirk (Chris Pine’s father).
Nikki Finke reports that Marvel and Branagh made the final decision earlier today after reviewing Hemsworth’s test footage, which was described as “Oh my god.” Chris is currently in production on the Joss Whedon-written Drew Goddard-directed horror film The Cabin in the Woods. The Australian actor was also just cast as the lead role in MGM’s Red Dawn remake last week.
He’s a virtual unknown in the United States, but he was a star on a successful television series back in Oz (171 episodes
of Home and Away) and was on the 2006 Australian version of Dancing with the Stars.
Written by Mark Protosevich, the story has been described as being “like a superhero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential. It’s the story of an Old Testament god who becomes a New Testament god”.
Marvel will self-fiance the production, and the film will be distributed by Paramount Pictures. Marvel has announced a June 17th 2011 release date for the film. Thor is Being penned by Mark Protosevich, writer of films like I Am Legend and The Cell. Filming will begin in January of next year with a May 20, 2011 release date. Thor will be released among a few other Marvel movies (Iron Man 2, The First Avenger: Captain America) being released before the upcoming Avengers movie that unites Thor, Iron Man, Ant Man, Captain America and the Hulk among others.
