Casting Aesir and other Norse gods

[mrissa]

Last week a friend wrote to ask me what should be a very simple question: who would I cast as Thor in a movie or TV series?

Short answer is, apparently, I wouldn't; or else I'd have to hold really good open casting calls, because I could not think of a single actor I considered right to play Thor.

But I did have some ideas for some other Norse gods: I want Tina Majorino (Mac from Veronica Mars) to play Hel, because I think she would rock that role like an unspecified rocking thing. I want T. J. Thyne (Hodgins from Bones) to play Loki, because he has the exactly right manic chaotic spark, and also it would fit and be just right that he would be fairly small compared to the rest of the gods. And my moment of brilliance in this, in my own completely unbiased opinion, was that Tahmoh Penikett (Helo from Battlestar Galactica) and Jim True-Frost (Prez from The Wire) should play brothers in lo these many things, and in this case Tahmoh Penikett should be Tyr and Jim True-Frost should be Hod. I'm also thinking of Allison Janney (C.J. Cregg from The West Wing) as Frigg.

Anybody else full of theories? I know, I know: startling lack of Jane Lynch. timprov thought she should be Hel instead, but I just can't give up Tina Majorino in that.

Comments

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Hmmmm. I don't know who should play Thor, either. It needs to be somebody who wouldn't look ridiculous in a long mustache and beard -- even if that isn't how he appears at the moment, I would need to be able to look at the guy and not giggle at the thought.

It amuses me that we all think Loki should be small compared to the rest of the gods, given his giantish nature.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, but lots of the gods are half-giant.

For me the difficulty wasn't the long mustache and beard. It's that most of the white guys who have really large physical presence in TV and movies don't have the "I have taken it for granted that I will always be huge and strong" kind of physical presence, they have the "I am a bodybuilder and therefore link this directly to effort" kind.

So the upshot of this is that I would probably cast a Maori, Samoan, or African-American guy as Thor. Which I would be fine with if not for the beard/mustache requirement, which is Not Unimportant.

[cadithial.livejournal.com]

Are you doing both Aesir and Vanir?

[bork.livejournal.com]

I could see Viggo Mortensen as Thor, especially with longish hair.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Well, except that he's not even six feet tall. Do I believe in Viggo Mortensen being willing and able to run one through with a sword, when he is playing a role? Indubitably. But being able to hurl a gigantic hammer and make thunder happen? Not so much with that. He might make quite a good Frey, though.

[timprov.livejournal.com]

We talked about Cliff Curtis (icon).

I think Idris Elba could pull it off.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

That's actually why Brendan Fraser was the first guy who came to mind. He's not huge enough, I don't think, but he has the effortlessness of it.

If I let go of the "white guy" requirement, the Rock might work.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

He looks 5-o-clock shadowier in that icon than I recall. This is a good thing I think.

I think Idris Elba is too elegant for Thor, but possibly I am underestimating his ability to be inelegant.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

He could possibly make a good Odin, even.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Yes, you're exactly right that Brendan Fraser has that unconscious, liquid physicality that you want (which I think Denzel Washington has the Platonic Form of). Craig Bierko has it, too. And Clancy Brown, for that matter, but he's too old for Thor.

[swan-tower.livejournal.com]

Another one, but sadly wrong for Thor: Vin Diesel. Watch Pitch Black to see the guy's ability to hold the screen with impressive physical acts like . . . standing up.

[rysmiel.livejournal.com]

But I doubt he'd share the recipe.

[akirlu.livejournal.com]

Hmm. I kinda like Denys Leary for Loki, myself. Of course, it would mean putting him in a trench or casting only freakishly tall actors for the rest of the Aesir, though.

Nikolaj Coster-Waldau should definitely get something.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

I'd cast against type for Thor and go with older, small, grim, and wiry. Kind of a condensed nugget of "this is what a god shrinks down to". I'm even thinking of an actor but I can't remember his name.

[cloudscudding.livejournal.com]

Terence Stamp, as he acted in The Limey! Ha! Remembered!

[eposia.livejournal.com]

My friend suggested Karl Urban for Thor.

[volund.livejournal.com]

I think you can dispense with height concerns. You'll get around that with camera tricks, CGI, etc. This is going to be an epic, right? Like LotR, film(s) where humans, elves, dwarves and hobbits were all played, for the most part, by average sized humans?

[volund.livejournal.com]

"for the most part" of course refers to the average sized aspect. Unless somebody's been hiding something, the actors themselves are all human ...

[reveritas.livejournal.com]

Thor: Robbie Coltrane? Too easy? Too jolly. I'm going to go with the Viggo selection above.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Liquid is exactly what I don't want for Thor. Very physical, yes, but capable rather than graceful.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yes. I was hoping to come up with someone just a bit older for Odin, but I would be reasonably happy with Mortensen.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Yesyes. I could even buy Coster-Waldau as Baldr.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

I am having great difficulty seeing why, but perhaps when I've seen the new Star Trek I will understand.

[mrissa.livejournal.com]

Good heavens. That is not even slightly what I would think of as essence o' Thor.

On the other hand, this has alerted me to a British TV series based on Anthony Price novels.

On the other other hand, I have a strong suspicion that someone would have told me if it was any good.