Corona | Coming Attractions

The slightly strange story making the rounds this morning is that Stuart Townsend (League of Extraordinary Gentlemen), Ray Stevenson (Punisher: War Zone) and Tadanobu Asano (Mongol) have been cast as Fandral the Dashing, Volstagg the Valiant and Hogun the Grim, a.k.a. the Warriors Three. The casting news broke first on Variety but then the story disappeared from the site a few short hours later, leaving some to wonder if the starting gun was jumped by the trade. So far Marvel isn't commenting on the possible leak leaving fans to speculate if the casting report is true or a mistake.

UPDATE: It's confirmed. Variety's story is back.

Zachary Levi, the actor who plays NBC's reluctant spy Chuck, revealed to USA Today that he had won the part of Fandral, one of the Warriors Three in Thor. However, Levi had to reluctantly opt of of playing the part when the network decided to pick up the back-half of Chuck's upcoming season, forcing Levi to be available when he would've been needed to work on Thor. He had been hitting the gym to add some muscle for his part as a Norse fighter but when the Thor producers had asked him to audition for the lead role he decided that no amount of working out would be convincing enough to pull off the god of thunder's physique. "I'm tall and in pretty good shape, but I'm not big and girthy like that," quipped Levi to the paper.

Anthony Hopkins has been cast as Odin, the father of the thunder god Thor and his brother of mischief Loki. As depicted in the Marvel Comics, Odin is the leader of the Norse gods and called the All-Father. He has awesome supernatural powers including super-strength and the ability to cast great magic. His primary weapon is a spear called Gungnir from which Odin can project energy blasts using a power refered to as the Odinforce.

Dominic Cooper of Momma Mia! and An Education told Movieline that he's up for a role in Thor and he even says what the part is: Fandral the Dashing, one of the Warriors Three.

Are Jude Law and Robert De Niro playing parts in Thor? There's supposedly a story in the new German edition of GQ magazine that quotes actor Matthias Schweighöfer saying that not only is he up for a part in the superhero movie, so too is Law and De Niro. Kenneth Branagh directed De Niro in 1994's Frankenstein so there's a past connection that could give some credence to the rumor.

While his son didn't get a part in the movie, daddy Stellan Skarsgard apparently did. The elder actor told the Swedish outlet Ystads Allehanda that he's got a part in the superhero movie but didn't elaborate what or who he'll be playing. Skarsgard also added that he refused to consider taking the job until he read a copy of the top secret script (which he said is heavily coded.)

We've learned that Kenneth Branagh will call action on the set of Thor sometime in January. That's when the start of filming has now been scheduled.

Colm Feore and Jaimie Alexander are the newest additions to the cast of Thor. The Kyle XY actress will play Sif, a warrior from Asgard who was also once one of Thor's flames. Feore's character hasn't been revealed yet but he's playing a villain.

Actress Diora Baird (My Best Friend's Girl, The Texas Chainsaw Massacre: The Beginning) auditioned for a role in Thor. We know this because she told us the news.

"Had an audition for the movie Thor today," Baird wrote on her Twitter feed. "Character description was 'pretty, but sturdy with muscle.' Damn type casting."

Marvel Studios has officially confirmed that Natalie Portman will star in Thor as the love interest, a character named Jane Foster. The company notes that Foster was the first love for the hero when he was introduced in the 1960s and for the movie Foster will be "updated." The company also gave its version of the film's storyline which adds slightly more depth to what's known:

"Marvel Studios expands its film universe with a new type of superhero: Thor. This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe; from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth."

During the time he was being considered for the role of Marvel's thunder god, Alexander Skarsgard auditioned for the part wearing Thor's costume and weilding his magical hammer, Mjolnir. "Yeah," Skarsgard said to MTV's Splash Page. "That was pretty fun."

Skarsgard also said that he had meetings with Kevin Feige, Marvel Studios' head honcho, and Thor director Kenneth Branagh. He also wants to keep the door open for any parts in future Marvel superhero movies. "I think it’s every little boy’s dream; it would be a person’s dream to play an action hero," he said.

MTV caught up with Kenneth Branagh and attempted to pry Thor story secrets from him. What material was Branagh considering using for his film? Would Thor's human alter-ego Dr. Donald Blake be a character in the movie? What about Falstaff or Beta Ray Bill or Sorceress? Branagh deftly dodged revealing any spoilers in his answers but still managed to make his reply interesting to hear: he has been looking at the comic book arcs for material to mine for the screenplay.

"I think that [Thor stories] go through golden patches and purple patches and everyone has personal favorites," Branagh told the outlet. "The recent runs have been marvelous. The J. Michael Straczynski run has been a tremendous achievement. But I’ve also been reading way back, reading classic, vintage runs as well. There are many Thors and many accounts of the stories across nearly 50 years of the comics. We look to raid from the best."

MTV also asked who Branagh had been consulting during his Thor indoctrination. "A lot of the job up to this point has been listening to people who know more and better than I. I have a very strong view of how to approach it myself, but I’m still listening and learning happily."

This site claims to know that Brian Blessed has for sure been cast as Odin, the father of Thor and leader of the Norse gods. Blessed, with his well-known booming loud voice and propensity for playing Shakespearian roles (indeed, he's been in two of Kenneth Branagh's earlier films), always seemed like the number one candidate for Odin. Now we wait and see if Marvel will confirm the rumor.

A scooper for Ain't It Cool News that's attending the Licensing International Expo taking place right now in Las Vegas took a photo at the Marvel booth showing logos for four of their upcoming superhero films, one of which was for the Thor movie. While the logo shouldn't be taken as the final logo that you might see on the movie's poster, right now it's an idea as to what direction Marvel is heading in terms of the logo's look.

British actor Tom Hiddleston has been officially confirmed in the role of Loki, the brother and antagonist to Thor. When they confirmed Hiddleston's casting in the picture Marvel Studios also released a brief synopsis about the film's storyline:

"This epic adventure spans the Marvel Universe; from present day Earth to the realm of Asgard. At the center of the story is The Mighty Thor, a powerful but arrogant warrior whose reckless actions reignite an ancient war. Thor is cast down to Earth and forced to live among humans as punishment. Once here, Thor learns what it takes to be a true hero when the most dangerous villain of his world sends the darkest forces of Asgard to invade Earth."

Hiddleston worked with director Kenneth Branagh recently on the BBC miniseries Wallander and also in the London production of Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's Ivanov.