At this point, the idea of someone other than Chris Hemsworth playing Thor on the big screen seems strange. While someone else could play the role in the future, thinking of another person in the roles we’ve seen in the solo films and The Avengers blockbusters is just odd. It’d be on the level of Dougray Scott playing Logan instead of Hugh Jackman or Tom Cruise as Iron Man (or the opposite of Nic Cage playing Superman, which would be amazing).
Hemsworth has made the role his own since the first Thor film and seems ready to reach that iconic level with his portrayal in Thor: Ragnarok this November. But it almost wasn’t going to happen and another Hemsworth was originally in the running for the role. According to an interview in W Magazine, Hemsworth reveals that his brother Liam was originally one of the final choices for the role until some luck came through and gave the elder Hemsworth another shot:
I remember sitting in Vancouver, shooting Cabin in the Woods with Drew Goddard and Joss Whedon. Both of them were looking at the trades at this sort of top five guys for Thor and saying, ‘Why aren’t you in the mix here? What happened?’ I said, ‘I don’t know. I blew my audition I guess.’ None of those guys got it. My manager then called up and said, ‘You know, he’s got an older brother. Can we bring him back in?’ So I did an audition in Vancouver in this hotel room with my mum reading Anthony Hopkins’ part. She must have nailed it because it got me back in the room and that second audition was a lot different than my first one. I came in kind of with a little, I guess, motivation and maybe frustration that my little brother had gotten further than me. It’s a little family, sibling rivalry sort of kicked up in me.”
Nothing like a little sibling rivalry to kick things into gear and push you over the cliff to win your superhero audition. We’ve clearly missed out on the Hemsworth family’s version of Boy Fights, especially given the description we’ve gotten from Jennifer Lawrence in the past. The same can’t be said about Hemsworth’s own kids, who seem pleasant but divided over his role as Thor:
The other two are like, ‘Yeah. Dad’s Thor. Whatever,’ but my son, Tristan, jumps off the kitchen bench on a daily basis. He yells all sorts of motivating warrior cries and so on. I come home from work and he’s like, ‘Papa, did you fight the monsters? Did you beat up the monsters?’
He also apparently has several hammers from the films in his home and the directors slightly change them for every movie. It’s not really something you notice like Iron Man’s armor or Captain America’s costume, but it make some sense when you think of it that way.
Thor: Ragnarok will be in theaters on November 3rd, complete with plenty of Hulk battling giant wolves and fire giants.
(Via W Magazine / CBR)