By now, you may have hear there’s a live action Thor film coming out in 2011 from director Kenneth Branagh and Marvel Studios. And while its probably a safe bet that Samuel L. Jackson’s Nick Fury will make an appearance in Thor and perhaps Robert Downey, Jr.’s Tony Stark may as well (as he did in The Hulk), there had been no decisions on who would play the title role of Thor and his nemesis Loki in the film. That is, until now.
According to various sources, Thor will be played by actor Chris Hemsworth, who was recently featured in the small but pivotal role of George Kirk in J.J. Abrams Star Trek, and Loki will be played by the relatively unknown british actor Tom Hiddleston. Don’t feel bad if you’re not familiar with either of these actors as, to be honest, I had to look up Hiddelston myself to find out more about him.
Hemsworth, on the other hand, is already sort of known for his role as Geoprge Kirk in Star Trek and for being cast as the lead in the remake of Red Dawn, a role originated by Patrick Swayze. So far, these are the only two roles in Thor with confirmed casting, which puts to rest rumors that Josh Hartnett would be playing Loki and disappoints me that Alexander Skarsgård won’t get to play Thor — which I thought would be a great choice.
Of course, there’s still many more roles left to be cast and with Brannagh reportedly in meetings at Marvel’s HQ this week, we’ll probably see some more casting news coming out pretty soon. Who knows, maybe we’ll even see Natalie Portman in the movie after all.
