Now that Matthew Vaughn is on the Thor movie, attention must shift inevitably to who will be playing the Norse god-cum-superhero. Rumors that have reached my own, decidedly non-Asgardian, ears indicate that Marvel Studios and their new director may be at odds when it comes to casting this lead role.
According to my first time source*, Marvel wants wrestler Triple H to play the god of thunder, while Vaughn is dead set against it. Triple H is a name that comes up in a lot of fan casting for the role, mainly because the guy really does look Thor-ish, but his acting resume is a little thin (unless you count all of his wrestling experience as acting, since all of that shit is fake and engineered to appeal to the lowest common denominator), so I can see where Vaughn is not happy with the idea of making his lead a fella whose main film experience was in Blade: Trinity.
The problem is simple: how much power does Vaughn have in this struggle? If Stardust had opened bigger, he’d certainly have more. Add to that the fact that a strike is looming, which means that Vaughn isn’t going to have a lot of time to find his perfect Thor, plus everybody’s schedules are getting quite packed as they’re trying to fit in as much last minute work as possible. If he can find his perfect Thor and convince Marvel to hire him, it won’t make a difference if the actor’s dance card is completely full from here until the strike deadline.
Thor can quite possibly be the trickiest bit of casting in the entire Marvel pantheon, since the character really needs to be physically imposing, but the actor might be called upon to deliver ersatz Shakespearian dialogue. It’s one thing to cast an Austrian bodybuilder as a mostly mute killing machine from the future, and another to cast a professional wrestler as a god who gives flowery speeches.
*ie, take this one as scuttlebutt only.