Natalie Portman To Join ‘Thor’ Cast, Josh Hartnett Up For Lead Role?

MTV.com, 17 March 2009
By Josh Wigler

After a flood of recent “Thor” movie news that included a potential Josh Hartnett casting as the villain, Loki, and a reshuffled Marvel schedule that gave “Thor” a new release date, it looks like there are more changes afoot for the superhero son of Odin. Along with Alexander Skarsgård joining Hartnett in the potential “Thor” casting mix, a new name has been added to the possible list of “Thor” cast members: Natalie Portman.

“I’m told Natalie Portman is in the lead for the female lead,” reports Deadline Hollywood Daily blogger Nikki Finke.

After first breaking the news that Mickey Rourke and Scarlet Johansson had joined the “Iron Man 2? cast last week, Finke now reports that the “Star Wars” prequels star could be cast opposite whoever ends up wielding the mighty hammer Mjolnir in Marvel’s much-anticipated Kenneth Branagh-helmed film.

If Portman is indeed leaving Naboo for Asgard, the question remains — who will the actress play in Marvel’s “Thor”? With the film purportedly set in Asgard, might Portman fill the role of Lady Sif, an Asgardian goddess and love interest for Thor? Will Marvel take a cue from J. Michael Straczynski’s current comic book run and cast Portman as a female Loki? Sure, the suggestion sounds ridiculous given rumors that Hartnett is up for the role of Thor’s nemesis, but Finke also reports that Marvel could be courting the “Sin City” actor to play the God of Thunder himself.

“There’s a big push to cast Josh Hartnett either in the winged helmet and/or as nemesis Loki, which is ironic since Warner Bros once upon a time threw an amazing amount of money at him to play Superman but he refused,” wrote Finke.

“But my sources say there’s an equally powerful lobby to cast an unknown [as Thor],” Finke added. According to the report, that potential list of actors includes the oft-mentioned Skarsgård, Charlie Hunnam (”Sons of Anarchy”), Tom Hiddleston (”The Gathering Storm”), Liam Hemsworth (”Knowing”) and Danish actor Joel Kinnaman.


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