Chris Hemsworth is Hunky Thor

May 02, 2011

By: Lynn Barker

Kidzworld is chatting with the gorgeous Aussie star of the new superhero film!

What is over six feet tall, blonde, built like a brick wall and likes to toss a hammer around?

It’s the cocky Norse God of thunder Thor! In the new movie version based on the Marvel comic book hero, Thor is played by hunky Aussie Chris Hemsworth. Don’t confuse Chris with his younger bro Liam who was dating Miley Cyrus. Hard not to since both buff Aussie actors are amazing eye candy!

Chris plays Thor first as an overly confident and ambitious young prince in an off-world realm then, as a stranger in a strange land once he is banished to Earth. We’re in Bev Hills with the actor to get his take on playing a hero. Who is a hero to him in real life? How did costumes and amazing sets really help him in his portrayal? First, the fun stuff….

Chris Hemsworth as ThorCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Kidzworld: Chris, we just visited the Hasbro toy room here at the hotel. Those Thor action figures really look like you. How cool is that?

Chris Hemsworth: It’s a bit cool and a bit weird. It’s very odd and surreal. You have a good laugh about it especially seeing my older brother’s daughter running around with the action figure. That’s a trip! I was given some of the toys when they first came out. They don’t sit on my mantelpiece but it will be nice twenty years down the track to look back and see they made an action figure of me.

Kidzworld: This is a movie about the making of a hero. What kind of hero do you think we need today? Who is a hero to you?

Chris: Growing up, my parents were my heroes in the way they conducted their lives. My dad works in child protection. He’s spent many years in that line of work.As kids, our experiences shape our opinions on ourselves and the world around us and that’s who we become as adults, because of that experience.He’s certainly been my hero. (A hero is someone) who puts themselves on the line and sacrifices their own safety for the greater good and for others.And I think anyone in any sort of profession where the welfare of other people instead of individual (is the emphasis) is inspiring and important.

Courtesy of Marvel Studios

Kidzworld: Well said. Did you have any favorite movie heroes growing up?

Chris: Yeah. I have a lot of different (favorite) films.I think Superman was probably the very first one I was aware of and I would run around the house pretending to be him, at some stage when I was a kid.I also had a Robin costume, Batman’s sidekick, which is a nice pair of green underwear and a yellow shirt and red cape. I was about six or seven but I love Han Solo (Star Wars), too.

Kidzworld: Thor is obviously in amazing shape. What was the worst thing about your physical training for this role?

Chris: The most uncomfortable thing was the eating.I didn’t mind so much the working out; I’d never really lifted weights to that capacity beforehand, and it was certainly a whole new sort of education, for a good six months. I just don’t naturally sit at that weight, so I had to force feed myself with, twenty chicken breasts and rice and steak - and all very boring, plain things.And that was the most exhausting part, I think, out of the whole film, actually was the eating. It wasn’t the fun stuff; hamburgers and pizza and what have you.

Kidzworld: What research did you do to play Thor; look in Norse/Viking mythology or just read a ton of the comics or what?

Chris: I started with the comic books but I didn’t read all. There are thousands of them, forty or fifty years’ worth.But I certainly read enough to get a sense of who he was and the world he was from.And then I read some things on Norse mythology and this sort of fatalistic view they have that everything’s preordained and that leads the Vikings into this fearless sort of attitude in battle and with their lives. You fill your head with whatever information and research you have.

Thor and LokiCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Kidzworld: How did you apply that when actually shooting and becoming Thor on camera?

Chris: On set, it was just about making it truthful and finding a simpler way that I could relate to it. Instead of thinking, “How do I play a powerful god?” it became about scenes between fathers and sons and brothers.And you personalize that, and that helps ground the story, I think, for an audience.And then we can relate to it and hopefully an audience can, too.

Kidzworld: Did your amazing costume with the cool cape help put you in character?

Chris: Yeah. One of (director) Kenneth (Branagh)’s biggest notes for me was “Just let the costume do it”.I had this huge helmet on my head and couldn’t hardly see and Kenneth would just say, “Don’t worry. Just live in it”. Just to stay as still as you can and just let the costume and the (beauty) of where I was do the work.

Chris Hemsworth is Hunky ThorCourtesy of Marvel Studios

Kidzworld: You will also be Thor in the new Avengers film based on the comics and will be up there with several larger-than-life heroes. How will that be for you?

Chris: Well we don’t balance all the other characters, I guess.That’s just the writer and director Joss Whedon’s (job). We come in and do our bit.And that’s sort of all you can really concern yourself with.But I definitely think it’ll be an interesting combination. Why it will work is that conflict in those larger than life characters and egos clashing. There’ll be some great tension there.

Kidzworld: You and actor Tom Hiddleston who plays your enemy/brother Loki seem to like each other. Does that make it easier or harder to play rivals on screen?

Chris: It was great. It’s much easier to, I think hate someone on screen if you actually like them off screen.It’s just a more enjoyable ride.And there is nothing sort of personal about it.We got along and came into this at the same point in our careers, with the same sort of enthusiasm, and love for these types of films.And just had a great time doing it.Yeah, and you either have chemistry with someone, or you don’t.And thankfully, I think it was there. So, to play brothers, was easy and fun.