Just as Nikki Finke “TOLDJA” almost four months ago, Oscar-nominee Natalie Portman has been tapped for Marvel’s Thor, in which she’ll play love interest to the Norse god-turned-superhero. No stranger to comic book adaptations nor to reworkings of Scandinavian properties, the actress will play “Jane Foster,” a nurse who becomes Thor’s love interest when the “powerful but arrogant warrior” is banished to Earth by his fellow Asgardians. So far, Portman remains the sole household name cast in the movie, which stars Chris Hemsworth as the title hero, Tom Hiddleston as the villainous Loki and Brian Blessed as Thor’s father, Odin. Fellow Oscar-nominee Kenneth Branagh is directing.
The former child actress follows in the tradition of well-known but questionably talented starlets playing uninteresting love interests in comic book adaptations: Kim Basinger in Batman; Katie Holmes in Batman Begins; Maggie Gyllenhaal in The Dark Knight; Kirsten Dunst in the Spider-Man movies; and Gwyneth Paltrow in Iron Man. To me, Portman seems like a cross between the last two actresses. She’s done the “manic pixie dream girl” thing like Dunst, but she’s a little more high class, a la Paltrow. Marvel claims they’re updating the Foster character for the film, which is good considering few comic enthusiasts even know or care much about her, but it still seems likely Portman may actually have less to do in this movie than she did in The Darjeeling Limited (not including the Hotel Chevalier prologue).
Personally, I think Branagh should have hired Maia Brewton for the role, especially now that people are re-watching Parker Lewis Can’t Lose on DVD. Sure, she hasn’t been around in awhile, and it would be stunt casting, but I always prefer stunt casting to bad casting.
Check out some other film blog responses to the casting after the jump:
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Better watch out, better not carry too much cash, I’m telling you why: Santa Claus is strapped financially, too, this year, and he’s on a mugging spree. That’s David “Champ” Koechner as the bad Santa and Jessica Biel in the sexy elf (or is it a Mrs. Claus?) costume in this new FunnyorDie exclusive. But Santa doesn’t need currency, you say. He’s magic! Perhaps, but this holiday, people are likely referencing the Kinks’ song “Father Christmas” and asking him for money rather than “silly toys.”
Interestingly enough, I saw in The Hollywood Reporter today that FunnyorDie actually just received a whole lot of money for Christmas (or Hannukah, or whatever it celebrates). That means we can look forward to a new year filled with plenty more comedy shorts, whether they be as brilliant as the Prop 8 musical or as uninspired as today’s clip (which is mostly only good to Biel’s fans). I guess it’s a given that humor prevails in bad times, but it’s also telling for our future that while many longtime industries are in need of bailouts that online video sites are netting secret investments.
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A number of big name titles have been added to the line-up of enxt months’ Toronto Film Festival. There’s going to be some overlap with the just-announced NYFF, including Darren Aronofsky’s The Wrestler, and Che, which the festival’s Cameron Bailey says will be shown “the first time as two separate films on two separate nights. People also will get to see it as one back-to-back epic with a 15- minute intermission. You can choose your Che.” One of the few Cannes holdovers passed over by NYFF, Charlie Kaufman’s Synecdoche, New York, will also screen at TIFF.
Also of note:
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American Gangster
