Trivia / Thor

• Ability over Appearance: In the comics, Heimdall is pretty covered up, but still visibly Caucasian. For the film, however, Kenneth Branagh chose to cast very much black Idris Elba. Fan controversy over his choice led to this quote:
  "If you have a chance to have a great actor in the part, everything else is irrelevant."
• Actor-Shared Background: Sif is the lone female warrior in Thor's Five-Man Band. Her actress Jaimie Alexander had been one of few girls on her high school wrestling team.
• Awesome, Dear Boy: Natalie Portman's words on accepting the role—before even being offered a script—were "Kenneth Branagh doing Thor is super weird. I've got to do it." As Jane's character was developed, Portman jumped at the chance to play a lady scientist too.
• Cast the Runner-Up: Tom Hiddleston was in the running to play Thor. He wasn't quite right for that role, but everyone realized he'd make the perfect Loki.
• Creator-Chosen Casting: Kenneth Branagh cast Tom Hiddleston having worked with him on Ivanov and Wallander.
• Creator's Oddball: Director Kenneth Branagh was largely known for successful adaptations of Shakespeare to film and some quirky Indie-type things. Then he gets tapped to direct a sci-fi/fantasy action adventure movie about Norse gods having a serious squabble in small town New Mexico. Honestly, a royal family having a fight is perfectly appropriate for Shakespeare. All the other stuff is different.
• Dark Horse Casting: The casting of Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston, whose most famous roles back then were bit parts at most, in the lead male roles was very unexpected at the time.
• Deleted Role: Adriana Barraza had a sizeable supporting role as the diner owner Izabella Alverez. Most of her scenes were cut and she only appears once in the final film. Kenneth Branagh sent a letter of apology to the actress.
• Deleted Scene: See here.
• Dyeing for Your Art:
  • Tom Hiddleston originally auditioned to play Thor and gained 20 lbs of muscle to help look the part. When it was decided he was better suited to play Thor's lean and dark brother Loki, he had to slim down and dye his (naturally blond) hair black.
  • Once he was cast as Thor, Chris Hemsworth, having never worked out before, underwent six months of training with a US Navy SEAL and continued to gain so much muscle right up to filming that when he first put on his costume, it was too tight for him and actually cut off circulation to his legs. His eyebrows were also bleached to match his blonde hair, a decision everyone involved regretted as it ended up looking distractingly strange.
• Enforced Method Acting:
  • The scene where Loki briefly tries to intervene in Thor's banishment, but is silenced by a sort of roar from Odin was "unscripted genius[...] Terrifying. Magnificent." on Anthony Hopkins' part, and Tom Hiddleston's startled, shrinking reaction was not acting.
  • Hiddleston found Loki's helmet very uncomfortable, as it was heavy to wear and he couldn't see properly out of it. He channeled this discomfort into Loki's battle scenes.
• Fake Brit: The Asgardians speak with English accents. Chris Hemsworth (Thor) is Australian, Jaimie Alexander (Sif) and Josh Dallas (Fandral) are American. Anthony Hopkins (Odin) is Welsh.
• Fake Nationality: The Norwegian-American Erik Selvig is portrayed by the Swedish Stellan Skarsgård.
• First Appearance: In addition to introducing Thor and his world, we also get the first appearance of Hawkeye.
• Follow the Leader: The film's character posters set off a trend of movies creating posters of characters staring intensely at the camera with descriptive text on their faces. It became prevalent enough that it became ripe for mocking, as can be seen in this character sheet.
• The Other Marty: Stuart Townsend was cast as Fandral but replaced by Josh Dallas days before filming began.
• Playing Against Type: Film Directing: Kenneth Branagh, who's better known for Shakespearean films, took a turn at directing a superhero flick. This is apparently because he was a fan of the comic as a child.
• Promoted Fanboy: Kenneth Branagh had been a fan of the comics since childhood.
• Recycled Set: The set used for the town, was the same modernized town and set used for Silverado.
• Saved from Development Hell:
  • Sam Raimi met with Stan Lee and 20th Century Studios about making a Thor movie back in 1990, but the project went nowhere. Marvel again met with Artisan to finance and push the film, but it failed to get picked up by any studios. Raimi would go on to direct the Spider-Man Trilogy and Doctor Strange in the Multiverse of Madness.
  • After the project moved to Paramount and Marvel, Mark Protosevich, a big fan of the comics, wrote a script he described as an epic about "An Old Testament god who becomes a New Testament god." The draft ended up being rewritten due to fears that it would be too expensive to produce, as estimates had the script's budget pegged at around 300 million dollars. Protosevich still received story credit in the final product of the film.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting:
  • Dakota Goyo and Ted Allpress, who play Thor and Loki as children respectively, really do resemble Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston.
  • While it's not obvious at first glance due to the heavy Frost Giant make-up and prosthetics, the filmmakers made an excellent choice casting Colm Feore as Laufey because his facial bone structure is virtually identical◊ to Tom Hiddleston's (Loki is Laufey's biological son).
• So My Kids Can Watch: Idris Elba has said he takes roles in films like Thor because his daughter is a big fan of those types of movies.
• Star-Making Role:
  • This is the film that put Chris Hemsworth on the map for most American and foreign audiences.
  • Tom Hiddleston was virtually unknown worldwide before playing Loki, and is now one of the online fandom's most beloved stars.
  • While Idris Elba had already made a name for himself on television with The Wire and Luther, his film career really took off after the release of this movie.
• Throw It In!:
  • Anthony Hopkins improvised his reaction to Thor's Calling the Old Man Out speech. Apparently, crew members were bursting into tears on the set during filming.
  • So was Odin's terrifying and definitely unscripted growl when Loki attempts to intervene, which deserves a mention by itself.
• Uncredited Role:
  • Joss Whedon directed the post-credits scene uncredited.
  • Jeremy Renner's cameo as Hawkeye is also uncredited.
  • As is Samuel L. Jackson for his cameo in the post-credits scene.
• What Could Have Been:
  • Daniel Craig was the first choice for the role of Thor before Chris Hemsworth was cast, but turned down the offer due to his commitments to the James Bond franchise.
    • Brad Pitt, Channing Tatum, Kevin McKidd and Paul Levesque were also considered for the part of Thor during early production stages. Pitt would eventually go on to portray the Vanisher in Deadpool 2.
    • Charlie Hunnam, Alexander Skarsgård, Joel Kinnaman, Kellan Lutz, Alan Ritchson and Liam Hemsworth screen-tested for the titular role as well before the casting of Hemsworth.
  • Josh Hartnett, Jim Carrey and Charlie Cox were considered for the part of Loki before the casting of Tom Hiddleston. Cox would eventually go on to portray Matt Murdock in Daredevil.
  • Mel Gibson and BRIAN BLESSED were approached for the role of Odin before Anthony Hopkins was cast.
  • Jessica Biel and Diora Baird were considered for the part of Lady Sif before the casting of Jaimie Alexander. Biel previously played Abigail Whistler in Blade: Trinity, and was previously considered for Natasha Romanoff in Iron Man 2.
  • Zachary Levi and Stuart Townsend were offered the role of Fandral the Dashing before Josh Dallas was cast. However, Levi turned it down due to scheduling commitments to Chuck, while Townsend dropped out of the project over Creative Differences with the producers. Levi would later go on to replace Dallas as Fandral the Dashing in Thor: The Dark World and Thor: Ragnarok.
  • Brie Larson auditioned for an unspecified role in the film. She would go on to portray Carol Danvers in Captain Marvel.
  • Guillermo del Toro, Matthew Vaughn, D.J. Caruso, David S. Goyer and Louis Leterrier had discussions about directing the movie before Kenneth Branagh was hired. Del Toro turned down the offer to helm The Hobbit: An Unexpected Journey instead, which he also ended up walking away from. Del Toro, Goyer and Leterrier previously directed Blade II, Blade: Trinity and The Incredible Hulk respectively, while Vaughn would go on to helm X-Men: First Class.
  • A scene was present in the original script where Loki did reveal himself to Laufey as his son. Laufey then admitted his Parental Abandonment of him.
  • Dr. Selvig offered Jane to contact his colleague for consultation about S.H.I.E.L.D. when S.H.I.E.L.D. confiscated Jane's equipment. Said colleague was actually Dr. Hank Pym and his name was initially going to be mentioned. But the filmmakers think it was too soon to mention Hank Pym, so his name ends up being unmentioned in the film.
  • In the comics, Sif and Heimdall are siblings, which is not retained in this film and thus the rest of the MCU. At one point, this element was going to be retained and Sif would have been dark-skinned as well: concept art of this exists (which also reveals that Balder, Thor's ''other'' brother in the comics, was originally going to be in the film with a crucial role before being cut).
  • The Enchantress was initially going to appear and concept art of her design can even be found online.
  • At one point, Kenneth Branagh wanted to change the name of Thor's hammer to Uru, as he found "Mjölnir" to be rather difficult to pronounce. Kevin Feige convinced him to change his mind, as he warned Branagh that changing the name could potentially bring the wrath of fans down on him.
• Word of Saint Paul: Thor and Loki both wield named weapons: Mjölnir, the hammer, and Gungnir, Odin's spear. Clark Gregg, who plays Agent Phil Coulson, felt that he also should have a named weapon, so he decided that his Glock 17 was "Glockenspiel."

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