Mar 17 2009 Natalie Portman Loves Thor?

Who will play Thor? Who will play Thor's arch-enemy, Loki? And who will play Thor's Kim Basinger character? These questions continue to plague us, but Deadline Hollywood has some new semi-answers:

...there's a big push to cast Josh Hartnett either in the winged helmet and/or as nemesis Loki...

...besides Hartnett, the following actors are being tested: Charlie Hunnam (the British co-star of the F/X series Sons Of Anarchy); Tom Hiddleston (award-winning British actor and RADA graduate who played Winston Churchill's son in HBO's The Gathering Storm), Alexandar Skarsgard (Stellan's son who has appeared in the HBO Iraq War miniseries Generation Kill and vampire drama True Blood, and who's definitely visually right for the role), Liam Hemsworth (offered a significant role in The Expendables after Sly Stallone saw his tape), and Joel Kinnaman (some Swedish-American dude).

Meanwhile, I'm told Natalie Portman is in the lead for the female lead.

Does Natalie Portman playing a female lead mean Thor has a love interest? I'm not that familiar with the Thor mythos, but I thought his only true love was the hammer Mjolnir. Maybe she'll end up being more of a Scully character to Thor's Mulder, where he's always insisting he's a Norse god, and she's like, "Thor, there are no such thing as Norse gods!" And he's like, "Then where did I get this sweet hat!?"

Mar 11 2009 Josh Hartnett Might be the God of Mischief

Following up yesterday's news that an extremely Thor-like guy might be in the running for the lead in Kenneth Branagh's Thor, IESB is reporting Josh Hartnett is on the short list of actors to play the Norse hero's arch-villain Loki. Personally, I saw Hartnett more in the role of Thor's professorial sidekick Dr. Squintz, but I guess this could work if he can figure out a way to make his wooden, GQ staring seem mischievous.

(Update: For some reason, yes, I originally wrote "Harnett" several times. The issue has been corrected.)

May 9 2008 'August' Poster Willing to Make Bumper Sticker-Level Commentary

It's hard to read at this size, but the tagline reads "comes before the fall," referring to the plot in which two brothers struggle to keep their Wall Street company going in August 2001, a month before 9/11. It replaced the original tagline--one more appropriate for the poster--"God, Josh Hartnett is really cool isn't he? I mean, seriously, just look at him. So cool. So cool."

August Poster [IMPA]

Nov 9 2007 Some Other Crap That Happened...

- Another movie based on a video game? That could only be good if they got Mark Wahlberg to star as Max Payne, a cop who has "little regard for the rules." Wait, they did?! [Variety]

- Josh Harnett and Sam Rockwell have joined George-Radliff's adaptation of End Zone, with Hartnett playing a talented running back and Rockwell taking the role of an excitable publicist. I hope Hartnett can pull off the role of a good-looking jock. [Variety]

- If you're in LA, make sure to catch Life of Reilly, opening this weekend--or at least watch an episode of Match Game 76--to get your regular dose of Charles Nelson Reilly. I'll be catching it in New York next weekend to ward against the phantom ascot pains common to CNR withdrawal.

- Writers Guild members: continue not writing. You're on strike, sillyheads! And it's the weekend!