Chris Hemsworth on "Playing Dress-Ups" and Kissing Natalie Portman in Thor
Posted 04.07.11 by BrentJS
In one month, Paramount Pictures will introduce the world to one of Marvel Comics' greatest comic book heroes in the Kenneth Branagh-directed Thor adaptation. The event will also be a "coming-out party" of sorts for not only Marvel's Norse god of thunder and lightning, but for title actor Chris Hemsworth, who was a soap star in his native Australia, but is still a relative unknown in the States. While Marvel failed to present the movie at the recent WonderCon comic book and popular arts convention, a steady stream of Thor promotional materials has been released in recent weeks and Hemsworth recently offered up a few juicy details about the movie himself, from working with Branagh and Academy Award-winner Anthony Hopkins, to "playing dress-ups" and kissing his co-star, Academy Award-winner Natalie Portman.
Hemsworth told the Australian edition of GQ that, despite Thor taking place in this "massive world that was created by Marvel," there "was as much character work on [Thor] as there would be on a little independent film," which he credited to Branagh and the "very intimate actors" the British director assembled to bring the comic book characters to life.
[I felt] very fortunate in that sense, and I had never had anyone push me in so many different directions or places that Ken did with my character. Instead of trying to track "this is who he is and this is what we do," we’d try one thing and [Branagh would] say, "Great, we’ve got that, now let’s give this a go." By doing that you constantly go, "I didn’t think of that, but I could use that here." It was a constant evolution, which is a freer way to work. ... And Anthony Hopkins is just incredible to be around— he lifts everybody’s game. You soak up everything he is doing and learn from that.
Hemsworth said that costumes, coupled with the fact that Marvel Studios built practical sets instead of relying solely on green screen and CGI, really helped him get into character.
We were lucky in that they had actually built most of the sets. It’s easier having this big fantasy world around you than if there was just a green screen. It was like being a kid playing dress-ups. You do feel like you are this guy—especially with the costume. The first day I put it on, Hopkins looked at me and looked at both of us, and said, "No acting required here."
And what was it like to have a love scene with every fanboy's crush, Natalie Portman? Hemsworth summed it up in one word: "Ridiculous."
Going from kissing Natalie Portman to working with Anthony Hopkins—the whole experience was like, "What the f*ck am I doing here?" But in a good way. It literally seemed like last week I was still working on Home and Away.
Thor was written by
Ashley Edward Miller,
Zack Stentz,
Don Payne and
Mark Protosevich. The cast includes
Jaimie Alexander,
Ray Stevenson,
Rene Russo,
Tadanobu Asano,
Kat Dennings,
Idris Elba,
Joshua Dallas,
Tom Hiddleston and
Clark Gregg.
Next Showing: Thor opens May 6, 2011