Josh Holloway for Thor!
Is Josh Holloway, best known as sexy con man Sawyer from “Lost,” a crazy suggestion to play the title character in Marvel’s upcoming Thor movie?
Marvel Comics’ next superhero to get a big-screen introduction (following next summer’s prequel X-Men Origins: Wolverine) will be The Mighty Thor, the Norse God of Thunder reconceived as a Superman-style do-gooder by Stan Lee, Larry Leiber and Jack Kirby in 1962. Variety reports that Kenneth Branagh is in negotiations to direct the big-screen Thor film, which has a release date of July 16, 2010. (Incidentally, Iron Man 2 is set for May 7 of that year.)
Branagh is an intriguing potential choice. As his generation’s best-known interpreter of Shakespeare for the big screen, he could deftly handle the antiquated dialogue of the Thor comics, which have more “forsooths” than a day at the Renaissance Festival. Branagh’s fluency with special effects and action scenes is a bigger question mark — he didn’t really distinguish himself with Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein — but his Henry V suggests he could bring gravity and wit to the (literally) mythic elements of the story. Rumor has it that much of the Thor script takes place in Asgard, realm of the Norse Gods. Screenwriter Mark Protosevich says:
“It’s going to be like a super hero origin story, but not one about a human gaining super powers, but of a god realizing his true potential. It’s the story of a Old Testament god who becomes a new Testament god.”
It sounds pretty ambitious for a superhero popcorn movie — more Lord of the Rings than Spider-Man. The next question becomes, who could play a convincing Thor? In the comics, he’s a strapping guy with long blonde hair, and his look includes a red cape, a winged helmet and a big honking hammer. To even approximate the comics, you’d need someone with the physique of He-Man era Dolph Lundgren, but with the vocal authority of a Shakespearean thespian.
So is “Lost” star and former Georgian Josh Holloway a crazy choice?