Hemsworth thunders in this summer in 'Thor'
What's not to envy? The guy's built like a tractor-trailer, is well-read and has a baritone voice that betrays a thick Aussie accent.
Take Hemsworth to lunch and he offers to pay. Set up an interview and he has the gall to show up five minutes early. He would have been earlier, Hemsworth offers, but he prefers street parking to valet and had to hunt for a spot.
Maybe someday he'll adopt the star affectation; the drivers, the handlers, the entourage.
For now, he's raising the bar impossibly high for mortal men.
On Friday, he'll try to smash it — with a god of thunder's hammer — when Thor hits screens.
The film marks a big-screen coming-out party of sorts for Hemsworth, who grew up working his parents' farm near Melbourne before landing roles in Star Trek, as Capt. James Kirk's father, George, and in Red Dawn, due later this year.
But it's his role as the Marvel comic-book icon that has Hollywood's gaze fixed on the 27-year-old, who leads a big-screen charge of burly superheroes this summer tasked with reviving comic-book movies and snapping the industry out of its box-office doldrums. After Thor, we'll get tales from Green Lantern, the X-Men and Captain America.
Still, analysts say, Thor stands as the barometer for the summer movie season, which typically accounts for 40% of Hollywood's annual revenue.
"The pressure is on for this to be a record-breaking summer," says Jeff Bock of analysis firm Exhibitor Relations. "Just about every movie is going to have to work."
It can be dizzying for Hemsworth, who still is not used to being recognized in public.
"In Australia, no one really gets that impressed with you, if you're in the movies or not," he says. "Now, it feels like there are a lot more eyes. It's a bit intimidating, especially with a story like Thor.
Thor also marks a departure from the industry's recent stab at comic-book adaptations featuring crime-fighting kids and nerds, like those in Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. While those films entertained comic devotees, they fell largely on deaf public ears.
There will be no missing Hemsworth, who at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds was too beefy for his original Thor suit.
"We wanted someone who would be grounded and solid to make the movie around," says director Kenneth Branagh. "We said we wanted an oak tree actor."
So Branagh hired someone built like one. And, for fan boys, size matters.
"I think there's an excitement about getting back to the traditional superheroes," says Jim Littler, owner of comicbookmovie.com. "This year it seems we have more straight, hard-core comic-book movies that feature a lot of action. That should bode well for the movies."
Is Thor up to the challenges?
Thor still has his work cut out for him, though. Like the Incredible Hulk, Thor's Americanisms are not so good. He's steeped in Norse mythology, speaks like a Shakespeare major and flies around with a big club and blond locks.
The film, too, faces more challenges than most comic-book flicks in connecting with teen audiences. Thor's illustrated world could get pretty hokey, with ice monsters, arrogant gods and mortals entwined by a cosmic rainbow bridge. A poll of more than 2,000 fans by comic bookmovie.com found most were looking forward to Captain America, followed closely by Green Lantern and Thor. The X-Men, who already have had four movies about them, were a distant fourth.
But Thor-mania is growing, Littler says. "There was some skepticism at first, especially how they were going to pull off the look. Then people saw the first images of Thor, and they were relieved."
Not so much Hemsworth. For a guy who co-star Anthony Hopkins says is about to become "the center of the world," Hemsworth is showing some human frailty.
"I've got to just focus on today, on right now, on this minute," he says, rubbing his eyes a few hours before an all-day flight to promote the film in Europe. "If you think beyond that, or think you can control what happens, you're fooling yourself."
For a character born of medieval Norwegian folklore, Thor has survived the decades respectably. He's a Marvel comic legend, has a newer version of himself in the comic Ultimate Thor and stars in the third-person video game Thor: God of Thunder, which hit shelves Tuesday.
Still, Thor has never made the big-time in American film. Studios struggled with the titular character, whose powers of flight and strength weren't all that required high-tech effects. Thor's home world of Asgard is one of nine exotic realms that existed in mythology and Stan Lee's 1962 comic, and they were a logistics nightmare that prompted studios to play hot potato with the project and kept Thor a cartoon deity.
"There's an intensity (to comic-book films) I didn't expect," says Branagh. "Everything was being scrutinized, from casting to the aesthetic. I mean, how do you handle the Rainbow Bridge?"
So Branagh, who has directed Hamlet and Henry V for the big screen, leaned on the conventions that made his Shakespearean adaptations Hollywood fare. Namely, Branagh felt that Thor should take himself less seriously.
"The glue was humor," the director says. "That's how you make him contemporary on Earth. You make him funny."
Branagh also had to take it easy on himself. In the end, he realized, "I'm not writing a comic. I'm not writing a Norse myth. I'm making a movie. A summer movie. It should be fun."
And Thor is nothing if not a summer film. With a budget of $150 million, the immortal gets an American makeover with some humor, a few requisite shirtless shots and a love interest in Natalie Portman, who plays human scientist Jane. "A lot of actors come in and need to be the center of attention," Portman says. "Not Chris. He doesn't need that. He just naturally is."
Here we go again. It seems no matter to whom you mention this guy — waitresses, stars — the language gets a little effusive. "He's an amazing actor because he still listens," says Hopkins, who plays Thor's wise father, Odin. "Not everyone does that. And he looks stunning. You know he came to set looking like that."
'He must have eaten 70 chickens'
Actually, he came looking bigger. Convinced he would need to look authentic for comic fans, Hemsworth went on a high-protein diet after winning the role.
"He must have eaten 70 chickens," says co-star Tom Hiddleston, who plays Thor's brother Loki. "And his workout. He grew up on a farm, so he was chopping wood and lifting tree trunks. I tried his workout and couldn't walk for a week."
The workout worked. Hemsworth had to shed 20 pounds and the inch he had gained in the circumference in his neck, the result of a farm-born regimen that turned Thor's warrior suit into a leotard.
Born to non-acting parents Leonie and Craig Hemsworth, Chris Hemsworth held day-laborer jobs when he wasn't on the farm, laying asphalt and working construction. On a lark, he joined his brothers Luke and Liam on auditions and landed a role on the Australian soap opera Home and Away before coming to Los Angeles and landing a part in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek.
Ready for career takeoff
"I thought my career was going to take off," he says. "Then, nothing."
For months, Hemsworth couldn't find work. "I was putting so much pressure on myself, I was blowing auditions," he says. "I called my mom and dad a few times, told them I wanted to come home. They weren't worried. They just said, 'Anytime.' That helped me stay grounded."
Finally, younger brother Liam (whom Hemsworth beat out for the Thor role) told him to "just enjoy my life. Why was I here if I wasn't chasing something I love?" Hemsworth says he "finally got comfortable in my skin" and won his Red Dawn and Thor roles. And a wife.
Last year, Hemsworth met Spanish actress Elsa Pataky. Despite the unsolicited advice of studio executives who suggested he stay single while his star rose, Hemsworth married Pataky three months after they met.
Says Hopkins about his co-star: "I like working with Australians. They have an irreverence for all this. And Chris, in particular, has that energy. This is still new to him."
Still, for a guy who won the genetic lottery, Hemsworth considers himself a long way from content. He idolizes Paul Giamatti and Mark Ruffalo. "They are so good, I want to hug them," he says.
And he tries to ignore comparisons to Brad Pitt. "I don't know how to take compliments about my looks, except from my grandmother. And she's supposed to say that," Hemsworth says.
"If I agree, I'm conceited. If I disagree, I'm falsely modest. I don't want to ignore anything that opened doors for me, but I don't want to be known for something like (looks). I want to be known as an actor. I'd like to be known as someone who did his job well."
What's not to envy? The guy's built like a tractor-trailer, is well-read and has a baritone voice that betrays a thick Aussie accent.
Take Hemsworth to lunch and he offers to pay. Set up an interview and he has the gall to show up five minutes early. He would have been earlier, Hemsworth offers, but he prefers street parking to valet and had to hunt for a spot.
Maybe someday he'll adopt the star affectation; the drivers, the handlers, the entourage.
For now, he's raising the bar impossibly high for mortal men.
On Friday, he'll try to smash it — with a god of thunder's hammer — when Thor hits screens.
The film marks a big-screen coming-out party of sorts for Hemsworth, who grew up working his parents' farm near Melbourne before landing roles in Star Trek, as Capt. James Kirk's father, George, and in Red Dawn, due later this year.
But it's his role as the Marvel comic-book icon that has Hollywood's gaze fixed on the 27-year-old, who leads a big-screen charge of burly superheroes this summer tasked with reviving comic-book movies and snapping the industry out of its box-office doldrums. After Thor, we'll get tales from Green Lantern, the X-Men and Captain America.
Still, analysts say, Thor stands as the barometer for the summer movie season, which typically accounts for 40% of Hollywood's annual revenue.
"The pressure is on for this to be a record-breaking summer," says Jeff Bock of analysis firm Exhibitor Relations. "Just about every movie is going to have to work."
It can be dizzying for Hemsworth, who still is not used to being recognized in public.
"In Australia, no one really gets that impressed with you, if you're in the movies or not," he says. "Now, it feels like there are a lot more eyes. It's a bit intimidating, especially with a story like Thor.
Thor also marks a departure from the industry's recent stab at comic-book adaptations featuring crime-fighting kids and nerds, like those in Kick-Ass and Scott Pilgrim vs. the World. While those films entertained comic devotees, they fell largely on deaf public ears.
There will be no missing Hemsworth, who at 6-foot-7 and 225 pounds was too beefy for his original Thor suit.
"We wanted someone who would be grounded and solid to make the movie around," says director Kenneth Branagh. "We said we wanted an oak tree actor."
So Branagh hired someone built like one. And, for fan boys, size matters.
"I think there's an excitement about getting back to the traditional superheroes," says Jim Littler, owner of comicbookmovie.com. "This year it seems we have more straight, hard-core comic-book movies that feature a lot of action. That should bode well for the movies."
Is Thor up to the challenges?
Thor still has his work cut out for him, though. Like the Incredible Hulk, Thor's Americanisms are not so good. He's steeped in Norse mythology, speaks like a Shakespeare major and flies around with a big club and blond locks.
The film, too, faces more challenges than most comic-book flicks in connecting with teen audiences. Thor's illustrated world could get pretty hokey, with ice monsters, arrogant gods and mortals entwined by a cosmic rainbow bridge. A poll of more than 2,000 fans by comic bookmovie.com found most were looking forward to Captain America, followed closely by Green Lantern and Thor. The X-Men, who already have had four movies about them, were a distant fourth.
But Thor-mania is growing, Littler says. "There was some skepticism at first, especially how they were going to pull off the look. Then people saw the first images of Thor, and they were relieved."
Not so much Hemsworth. For a guy who co-star Anthony Hopkins says is about to become "the center of the world," Hemsworth is showing some human frailty.
"I've got to just focus on today, on right now, on this minute," he says, rubbing his eyes a few hours before an all-day flight to promote the film in Europe. "If you think beyond that, or think you can control what happens, you're fooling yourself."
For a character born of medieval Norwegian folklore, Thor has survived the decades respectably. He's a Marvel comic legend, has a newer version of himself in the comic Ultimate Thor and stars in the third-person video game Thor: God of Thunder, which hit shelves Tuesday.
Still, Thor has never made the big-time in American film. Studios struggled with the titular character, whose powers of flight and strength weren't all that required high-tech effects. Thor's home world of Asgard is one of nine exotic realms that existed in mythology and Stan Lee's 1962 comic, and they were a logistics nightmare that prompted studios to play hot potato with the project and kept Thor a cartoon deity.
"There's an intensity (to comic-book films) I didn't expect," says Branagh. "Everything was being scrutinized, from casting to the aesthetic. I mean, how do you handle the Rainbow Bridge?"
So Branagh, who has directed Hamlet and Henry V for the big screen, leaned on the conventions that made his Shakespearean adaptations Hollywood fare. Namely, Branagh felt that Thor should take himself less seriously.
"The glue was humor," the director says. "That's how you make him contemporary on Earth. You make him funny."
Branagh also had to take it easy on himself. In the end, he realized, "I'm not writing a comic. I'm not writing a Norse myth. I'm making a movie. A summer movie. It should be fun."
And Thor is nothing if not a summer film. With a budget of $150 million, the immortal gets an American makeover with some humor, a few requisite shirtless shots and a love interest in Natalie Portman, who plays human scientist Jane. "A lot of actors come in and need to be the center of attention," Portman says. "Not Chris. He doesn't need that. He just naturally is."
Here we go again. It seems no matter to whom you mention this guy — waitresses, stars — the language gets a little effusive. "He's an amazing actor because he still listens," says Hopkins, who plays Thor's wise father, Odin. "Not everyone does that. And he looks stunning. You know he came to set looking like that."
'He must have eaten 70 chickens'
Actually, he came looking bigger. Convinced he would need to look authentic for comic fans, Hemsworth went on a high-protein diet after winning the role.
"He must have eaten 70 chickens," says co-star Tom Hiddleston, who plays Thor's brother Loki. "And his workout. He grew up on a farm, so he was chopping wood and lifting tree trunks. I tried his workout and couldn't walk for a week."
The workout worked. Hemsworth had to shed 20 pounds and the inch he had gained in the circumference in his neck, the result of a farm-born regimen that turned Thor's warrior suit into a leotard.
Born to non-acting parents Leonie and Craig Hemsworth, Chris Hemsworth held day-laborer jobs when he wasn't on the farm, laying asphalt and working construction. On a lark, he joined his brothers Luke and Liam on auditions and landed a role on the Australian soap opera Home and Away before coming to Los Angeles and landing a part in J.J. Abrams' Star Trek.
Ready for career takeoff
"I thought my career was going to take off," he says. "Then, nothing."
For months, Hemsworth couldn't find work. "I was putting so much pressure on myself, I was blowing auditions," he says. "I called my mom and dad a few times, told them I wanted to come home. They weren't worried. They just said, 'Anytime.' That helped me stay grounded."
Finally, younger brother Liam (whom Hemsworth beat out for the Thor role) told him to "just enjoy my life. Why was I here if I wasn't chasing something I love?" Hemsworth says he "finally got comfortable in my skin" and won his Red Dawn and Thor roles. And a wife.
Last year, Hemsworth met Spanish actress Elsa Pataky. Despite the unsolicited advice of studio executives who suggested he stay single while his star rose, Hemsworth married Pataky three months after they met.
Says Hopkins about his co-star: "I like working with Australians. They have an irreverence for all this. And Chris, in particular, has that energy. This is still new to him."
Still, for a guy who won the genetic lottery, Hemsworth considers himself a long way from content. He idolizes Paul Giamatti and Mark Ruffalo. "They are so good, I want to hug them," he says.
And he tries to ignore comparisons to Brad Pitt. "I don't know how to take compliments about my looks, except from my grandmother. And she's supposed to say that," Hemsworth says.
"If I agree, I'm conceited. If I disagree, I'm falsely modest. I don't want to ignore anything that opened doors for me, but I don't want to be known for something like (looks). I want to be known as an actor. I'd like to be known as someone who did his job well."
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