Nov 20 2009So Many People Are Doing the Acting in 'Thor'
So many people are doing the acting in Thor! Some people joined the cast a few days ago; one just joined today. Let's finally get to filling them all in in our Thor scrapbook, OK?
Firstly, the Heat Vision blog is reporting that Idris Elba--who you may remember from The Wire, The Office, and the ridiculous Beyonce-fights-a-stalker film Obsessed--will be playing Heimdall, another mythological Norse character called "whitest of the gods." Which is funny. Because Idris Elba is black. Not white.
Variety, meanwhile, has news that Stuart Townsend (Charlize Theron's husband), Ray Stevenson (the Punisher that wasn't Thomas Jane) and Tadanobu Asano (Ichi the Killer) will be playing the Warriors Three, Marvel-created Asgardian gods who form a classic trinity of fat guy, Errol Flynn-esque guy, and Genghis Khan-looking guy.
To those thinking this is weird because black guys and Asian guys don't belong in the world of Norse mythology... well, you're probably technically right, but you're still assigned ten minutes in the racist penalty box.
Reader Comments
1. Cinema Obsessed - November 20, 2009 3:38 PM
Mickey Rourke shoulda played Thor.
2. Justin - November 20, 2009 3:41 PM
Fine. I'll sit in the racist penalty box for ten, if they sit in the we're-fucking-shit-up-just-to-be-obnoxiously-politically-correct penalty box forever.
3. bribios - November 20, 2009 3:46 PM
You don't cast a white midget as Wilt Chamberlain, why the hell would you cast a black dude and an asian dude as norse characters?
OK now I want them to make a biopic about Wilt Chamberlain starring Jordan Prentice.
4. bp - November 20, 2009 3:47 PM
Damn right Justin.
Norse Mythology should not have black people fucking about with it.
5. wendy - November 20, 2009 3:49 PM
Is it cumulative? Because if so I need to be there for 30 minutes. As I'm still upset the real Thor, from TruBlood, isn't playing Thor.
6. TJB - November 20, 2009 4:06 PM
Guys...One of the warriors three is actually asian...KNOW WHAT YOU'RE TALKING ABOUT
7. Beast Machine - November 20, 2009 4:43 PM
I just heard their making a film about Erwin Rommel staring Wesley Snipes, and another about Genghis Khan staring Sam Neil....should be awesome.
8. DFCtomm - November 20, 2009 6:09 PM
The good news is that Thor is a mythological character and anybody can make a movie about him, and since Norse mythology has some of the coolest stories it practically writes itself. The only downside is that a non-Marvel Thor won't have access to the Simonson issues, but they are probably too stupid to use that storyline anyway. It would be nice for someone to come out of the blue and take advantage of the Thor hype that Marvel will create to steal their thunder(god) from underneath them.
9. boxerthehorse - November 21, 2009 6:43 PM
boo hoo, usually white people are given the roles that should go to anyone who isn't white to be true , or technically true. So what if they do this, it's a MOVIE BASED ON A COMIC BASED ON MYTH THAT WAS BASED ON ANOTHER MYTH, for all we know white is black to these "mythic gods". I'm just glad another decent actor is in.
10. tomikovanen@anal.biz - November 22, 2009 5:11 PM
first!!
Regards,
Tomi Kovanen, a happy to be gay monster
11. bdc - November 22, 2009 5:51 PM
news flash:.
so the azun dude and the black dude traveled to norse and stayed there.
12. dumba$$ - November 23, 2009 12:24 AM
@9
I bet you would be pissed though if Brad Pitt was cast to play Malcolm X wouldn't you? You hypocritical bast@rd! PHUK OFF!
13. frank - November 23, 2009 8:56 PM
@12: If you're going to swear, just fucking swear. You sound like a dope with all this faux-curse bullshit.
Where were these casting directors when Prince of Persia and The Last Airbender and 21 were being made? This is just silly.
14. boxerthehorse - November 24, 2009 6:32 PM
Malcom X was a real person, you are a fanboy bigot.
15. jason - December 1, 2009 8:22 AM
Well considering norse people are the whitest fuckers on the planet.... yep
16. Brandon - January 11, 2010 9:22 PM
There are two sides to this... as much as it pains me to see an African-American and/or Asian playing Norse Gods, it's not like Caucasian people haven't been playing Jesus and other Mythological beings for decades.
The truly crappy part about all of this is, no matter what the races in the movie are, that this movie, (like so many others with this amount of potential), is not going to be anything but an over-the-top CG ride. Acting is a moot point, hell, maybe they'll even CG the actors so they all look Norse...
So yeah, those are my 2 cents.