Star Wars veteran Natalie Portman is reportedly the front runner to play the female lead in Paramount-Marvel's
Thor movie, to be directed by Kenneth Branagh.
Thor has shifted release dates again -- from June 16, 2011 to May 20, 2011 -- in order to make room for Paramount's newly announced
Transformers 3.
Deadline Hollywood Daily doesn't state which female character from the Thor/Marvel universe she'd play.
The site also claims that Marvel is considering Josh Hartnett to play either Thor or his half-brother and archenemy Loki; earlier reports claimed that Hartnett was only in the running for the villain role.
DHD adds that there is a "powerful lobby" seeking to cast unknowns for the roles of Thor and Loki, claiming that "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),
- Alexander Skarsgård (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 Danish dude)."
English actor Tom Hiddleston, 28, starred opposite Branagh in the
Masterpiece Mystery! series
Wallander and the HBO telepic
Conspiracy, as well as on-stage in last fall's production of Chekhov's
Ivanov. Hiddleston's bio at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art says he stands 6'2" and is certified in stage combat. He won the Laurence Olivier Award last year as Best Newcomer in a Play for his performance in
Cymbeline.
In addition to his lead role as Jackson 'Jax' Teller in
Sons of Anarchy, English actor Charlie Hunnam, 29, has appeared in
Abandon, Nicholas Nickleby, Children of Men, Green Street Hooligans, and
Cold Mountain.
Aussie actor Liam Hemsworth, soon to be seen opposite Nicolas Cage in
Knowing, starred in the Aussie TV series
Neighbours and
The Elephant Princess. He's the younger brother of actor Chris Hemsworth, who plays James T. Kirk's dad in J.J. Abrams'
Star Trek movie.
Danish actor Joel Kinnaman, 29, has starred in a number of films overseas (such as
Storm and
The Invisible), and shares the same agency as Stellan Skarsgård, who has been rumored for the role of Thor's father Odin. Based on his looks, Kinnaman seems far more appropriate for Loki than for Thor.