As past stars question the value of acting in a Thor movie, star Chris Hemsworth is out defending the franchise.
Anthony Hopkins was a key part of the Thor franchise from the very beginning, adding a much-needed dose of gravitas to Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 Thor and kickstarting a project which has gone on to become one of Marvel Studios’ longest-running series. However, it hasn’t stopped the veteran actor from being a little disdainful of the films as he told the New Yorker this week that “they put me in armour; they shoved a beard on me. Sit on the throne, shout a bit. If you’re sitting in front of a green screen, it’s pointless acting it.”
Hopkins’ rather uncomplimentary comments come hot on the heels of Christian Bale’s comments about appearing in Thor: Love & Thunder which released last year. Bale was widely acclaimed for his role in a film that isn’t universally beloved among Marvel fans but he too has expressed his discomfort with the process of performance in a Marvel film, stating it would be a “pitiful attempt” should he try normal acting techniques in such a movie.
However, one person still batting for Team Thor is leading man, Chris Hemsworth. Whilst not a direct rebuttal to the comments of Hopkins and Bale, Hemsworth has been speaking about the value of Marvel movies, especially in response to directors like Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese, who have questioned their artistic merit in the past.
“I’m thankful that I have been a part of something that kept people in cinemas,” says Hemsworth in an interview with GQ.
“Now, whether or not those films were to the detriment of other films, I don’t know. I don’t love when we start scrutinising each other when there’s so much fragility in the business and in this space of the arts as it is… I say that less to the directors who made those comments, who are all, by the way, still my heroes, and in a heartbeat I would leap to work with any of them. But I say it more to the broader opinion around that topic.”
There’s no doubt he’s right about that, of course but it does seem that here in 2023, the narrative around these types of films is becoming increasingly less unified as Marvel’s stock continues to drop in the eyes of some.
You wonder if this would all be happening had the studio put out a fourth Thor film that won over fans and critics alike, as James Gunn’s recent trilogy-closing Guardians of the Galaxy Vol. 3 did. Either way, these stories keep coming as Marvel looks to reassert some momentum here in 2024.
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