AICN COMICS: Q&@ is our new semi-weekly interview column where some of your favorite @$$Holes interview comic bookdom’s biggest, brightest, newest, and oldest stars. Enjoy this latest in-depth interview filled with @$$y goodness and be sure to join the rest of your favorite @$$Holes for their opinions on the weekly pull every Wednesday with AICN COMICS REVIEWS!
@’s by THOR himself, Chris Hemsworth!
Hey folks, Ambush Bug here with an extra special interview today from C2E2. I was one of the very few folks to get an interview with the man who would be Thor, Chris Hemsworth at C2E2 a few weeks ago. The guy turned out to be super cool and quite down to earth for an Asgardian God. I met with him in a Chicago downtown bar that looked like a castle fit for a Thunder God. This was definitely one of the coolest interviews I’ve had a chance to do here at AICN. Here’s what Chris had to say…AMBUSH BUG (BUG): So thanks a lot for letting me be able to talk to you today. Let’s talk about THOR. Last year I was out in San Diego and one of the coolest moments was when you were able to hold up the hammer in front of everybody and everybody was cheering. What’s it like stepping into the shoes of such a popular character?
CHRIS HEMSWORTH (CH): Oh it’s as daunting as it is exciting. You have the advantage of having something that has a built in audience, so if it works then you’ve got some fans, but also the disadvantage or I guess the downside of that is if you don’t pull it off, you’ve got a lot of enemies. (Laughs) It’s exciting walking into something like this, but as I said it’s a mixture of that, but so far it’s been very positive and I was fortunate enough to be surrounded by sort of the experts in the business of it all. The Marvel guys have it down I think with the formulas for these films.
BUG: The fans seem to be pretty positive so far going into the film.
CH: Yeah, the Comic Con thing was… You know we were in room full of seven thousand people that know more about your character than you do and we showed the footage and thankfully we got a very positive reception. They made us play it again and it was a good start.
Ambush Bug: So had you read the comic going into the role?CH: I did once I got the part, but prior to that I hadn’t read much at all and then Ken Branagh gave me a stack of books, comic books and also Norse mythology with the Viking influence… Yeah, but that was certainly my introduction to it.
BUG: Great. What about the character did you like? What first appealed to you?
CH: I thought it was a really… There was incredible scope for the fantastical element of the universe he was from and the gods and that fantasy world was certainly appealing. It’s vivid and colorful, but on a sort of relatable human side of things his journey was one filled with questions that we all go through or ask ourselves, you know? It was him asking the big questions and searching for the truth and his place in the world and living up to expectations of his father and it was very much family ties, brothers to brothers, and father and son. So there was, at the center of it, something I could really relate to. I though he was a very interesting character on many levels, because he had this immense power and sort of world at his fingertips, yet there was that sort of vulnerable element of him also coming of age.
BUG: Yeah, one of the things that really appeals to me with the comic, it kind of focuses on the father and son aspect. Is that in the film?
CH: Absolutely, very heavily yeah. Most of Thor’s motivation is to appease his father and live up to the expectations of his kingdom that he possibly will take on. He’s living according to and acting according to the rules and regulations, which are already sort of set.
BUG: What kind of preparation did you have to do for the role?CH: Well there was the character study of it all and the usual rehearsal process and ongoing discussions with the writers and director and soaking up as much as you could about what already existed whilst developing your own take on it. And then there was the physical side of the preparation of lifting weights and eating a ton of food and being physically sort of proportioned.
BUG: What was the experience like just doing the audition and trying out for this role? Can you take me through that process?
CH: Yeah, well the very first time I auditioned was probably six months before I actually got the part, it was very early in the piece and I remember being very nervous, because the first piece of acting I had ever done was MUCH ADO ABOUT NOTHING in high school, a Shakespearian play that Kenneth Branagh had done a film adaptation of and I knew nothing about Shakespeare nor cared at the time. As a young guy I had no interest, so my reference was watching his film and kind of stealing what I could from that and copying it.
[Both Laugh]
CH: And then years later developing more of an appreciation for it and realizing who he was and what he had done was… and then walking into an audition with him and sort of… It was full circle and the very first audition, probably because of my anxiety about it all or whatever my preconceptions were, it just didn’t go too well. I kind of screwed it up and then I went away and shot a movie and then somehow got another look in months later and got asked to send in another tape and there was a new audition scene and went in again and met him and just went in with a different mindset, sort of… I tried not to put anyone on a pedestal and sort of get a good grip on “Okay, I’ve got this character. I’ve got a feeling for who he is.”
BUG: What’s Kenneth like on the set? What type of director is he?CH: He’s very much an actor’s director. He’s incredibly collaborative and intelligent and is all about exploring different ideas and sort of say “Okay we’ve got that, what if we went this way” and turning it on it’s head and not going for the two dimensional obvious version of it which I think was so smart in a film like this where it’s a big epic action adventure blockbuster, which you know at times most of the thought gets put into the special effects of it whereas this had so much put into the characters to make them human and make it relatable in some way. And he’s just a great guy. It was such an enjoyable process.
BUG: Let’s see, how about Natalie Portman? What was that like working with her?
CH: Amazing.
BUG: You’re a huge guy and she’s so small, did you have to watch around so you didn’t step on her?
[Both Laugh]
CH: That certainly helped, me being six foot four and her being… I’m not sure how tall she is, but it certainly helped me (Laughs) look like a god size-wise next to her. It was great. She was as sweet and wonderful as you would expect her to be. I remember one particular day shooting a scene where Thor and Jane, which is Natalie’s character, were flying through the air and we were hoisted up on a crane about a hundred and fifty feet up and we are hanging up there and sort of swinging in the breeze waiting for them to call action and over looking the mountains in Santa Fe and there was a sunset and just sitting there going “What the hell am I doing? There’s Natalie Portman here and I’m in this costume with a cape and a hammer.” That moment of “Wow, this is sort of hilarious and fascinating.” We both just started laughing about it. So yeah, she was wonderful.
BUG: Great. I don’t want to talk too much about any of your other films, but what can you say about CABIN IN THE WOODS?CH: Well CABIN IN THE WOODS is written by Joss Whedon who’s doing THE AVENGERS and then also Drew Goddard wrote it with him and Drew directed it. So Joss I met years ago when we shot that film and it was a wonderful script, sort of this TRUMAN SHOW meets NIGHT OF THE LIVING DEAD sort of feel. It was funny, but also in that horror world and both that film and then RED DAWN, which was with MGM… I think MGM were changing hands and going through their process, so later in the year I’m hearing that should come out, so finger’s crossed.
BUG: RED DAWN has been in the news lately about the change between the bad guys from Chinese to Korean. Have you seen the film?
CH: I have seen the film and it was great. It’s always, when you are that close to something, it’s hard to watch objectively, but I had a great time with it and it certainly is a fun film. As far as the changing of Korea or China or whatever, at the time it was always uncertain shooting it, to us as the actors. I know that the studio or whatever were taking care of that side of things and to us the story was about the relationship between family and friends coming together to fight some sort of common enemy and that was sort of our concern.
BUG: Great. I’ve got to talk about AVENGERS. Have you read the script yet?
CH: I’ve read one of the versions, yeah. It’s still in the process of coming together, but it blew my mind. It’s a huge, incredible big characters who have all been established separately and now to sort of throw them together is going to be one hell of a ride.
(Laughs)BUG: What actor are you most looking forward to working with?
CH: You know honestly I’ve been such a fan of all of those guys and so Downey would be the person I’ve been aware of the longest and then there’s Jeremy Renner coming up doing his thing and then Mark Ruffalo and Scarlet and Chris Evans… It’s just a huge list of people that I will be happy to be in the room with and I’m looking forward to the collaboration of all of that and not only these actors, but also these characters colliding.
BUG: Before we go, this is after all Ain’t It Cool News and we always try to get some types of scoop, is there anything you can give us about the AVENGERS film?
CH: Not without having to kill you.
[Both Laugh]
CH: I tell you, I’ve signed more contracts with this than I would to sign up to get a bank loan or something. I can tell you it’s going to be epic though.
BUG: Fair enough. Are there plans for a THOR sequel or is that too far down the line?
CH: Well depending if this film does well I guess and fingers crossed. I had such an amazing time and I was talking to Tony Hopkins about it the other day and just about how much fun we had on the last one and looking forward to hopefully another one coming together.
BUG: Great, well I hope so. Everything looks great so far; I can’t wait to see the film.CH: Thank you. Cheers.
BUG: Alright, well thanks a lot. I appreciate you taking the time to sit with me.
CH: Thank you, buddy.
BUG: Look for Chris Hemsworth in THOR this Friday. I’ll be reviewing THOR later in the week and be sure to look for the @$$Hole Roundtable Review of the film next Monday!
Ambush Bug is Mark L. Miller, original @$$Hole/wordslinger/reviewer/co-editor of AICN Comics for over nine years. Support a Bug by checking out his comics (click on the covers to purchase)!
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Special thanks to Muldoon for transcription.
Proofs, co-edits & common sense provided by Sleazy G
