Thor: Ragnarok

[TREK_GOD_1]

I hope we see Sif, but I'm glad to see Portman go. I don't hate her, but she was the worst part of The Dark World

She's overrated--and yes, winning an Oscar does not make one free of that charge, since the voting often has much to to do with factors having nothing to do with merit. She brought nothing to the Thor movies, and only seemed to be cast based on some hope to lure the nerds who were still panting from her Star Wars prequels days.

having a Thor movie focus on Asgard/the nine realms instead of Earth or some human woman, would be a nice change of pace after the last two Thor movies (which I liked, but I've always wanted more Asgard stuff).

I agree--I used to love the all-Asgard stories from the Silver Age, and added much dimension to Thor that hanging around on earth (solo or with other heroes) did not.

 

[Turtletrekker]

Ha! So much for thinking outside the box!

Valkyrie is a better choice of character for Tessa Thompson to play anyway.

 

[Chris3123]

Marvel officially reveals the cast list:

Cate Blanchett as Hela
Jeff Goldblum as Grandmaster
Tessa Thompson as Valkyrie
Karl Urban as Skurge, AKA The Executioner

And of course, Mark Ruffalo returns as Bruce Banner/The Hulk

Marvel.com

I looked up Grandmaster; It should be really interesting to see what part he plays in the movie. I wonder if he'll be the super-ancient immortal like in the comics, or if they will water him down for the MCU like they did with The Collector
(my guess is on the latter).

 

[Greg Cox]

The only actor whose not coming back that I can see really having an impact of the story is Anthony Hopkins' Odin. With the way The Dark World ended I was expecting to deal quite a bit with Loki pretending to be Odin. I guess they could just start with Loki having already been found out, or show us Hiddleston and just pretend everybody is seeing Hopkins, but either one is pretty clearly going to just feel like them trying to work around Hopkins' absence.

Or you simply hire another distinguished British actor to play Odin, the same way the Harry Potter movies switched Dumbledores in mid-stream without confusing anybody in the audience.

Seriously, recasting is not something to be avoided at all costs. Hollywood has been doing it for as long as they've been making movie sequels. Valerie Hobson replaced Mae Clarke in THE BRIDE OF FRANKENSTEIN, even though they looked nothing alike. Johnny Weissmuller's Tarzan had at least two Janes over the the course of the series. And how many different actors have played Felix Leiter in the Bond movies at this point?

https://www.mi6-hq.com/sections/articles/history_felix_leiter.php3

I mean, deep down inside, we all know we're just watching theatrical productions. Nobody's brain is going to explode if the same character is played by two different actors over the course of a series. It's been done a zillion times before.

 

[The Old Mixer]

I wouldn't argue with the general point, but for my money, the screen history of Felix Leiter is an example of recasting gone horribly out of control....

 

[Greg Cox]

I wouldn't argue with the general point, but for my money, the screen history of Felix Leiter is an example of recasting gone horribly out of control....

Saved by the fact that nobody actually goes to those movies for Felix Leiter anyway.

It's like recasting Jimmy Olsen. Nobody really cares . . .

 

[The Old Mixer]

I'm enough of a Bond novel geek to care...they seemed to cast every imaginable type except a lanky, straw-haired Texan...particularly frustrating in DAF, when the Worst Leiter Ever shared scenes with Jimmy Dean, who would have been perfect!

 

[Gaith]

The confusing thing about the Richard Harris casting is why he was hired in the first place, when it was tremendously obvious even in the first movie that he wouldn't make it through the series. In just the second one, he couldn't speak above a whisper!

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm enough of a Bond novel geek to care...they seemed to cast every imaginable type except a lanky, straw-haired Texan...particularly frustrating in DAF, when the Worst Leiter Ever shared scenes with Jimmy Dean, who would have been perfect!

I'll concede that the Bond movies have always been ridiculously quick to recast (see also: Blofeld), which is probably why they're my go-to example when it comes to reminding folks that recasting didn't exactly begin with modern comic-book adaptations. But the point remains that recasting is just something that happens sometimes, for all sorts of reasons, and that's no reason to lose a perfectly good character or plot line.

In general, I think, audiences are more flexible than we sometimes give them credit for. People may raise an eyebrow when they see that there's a new actor playing Odin, but it's unlikely to ruin the story for them. Most of us have experienced this umpteen times in our movie- and TV-watching careers and know how it works.

Darren Stevens, anyone? Eartha Kitt as Catwoman?

 

[The Nth Doctor]

The casting of Jeff Goldblum turned this film from "interested" to "MUST SEE." The rest of the casting is great, too, but I've been a long time fan of Goldblum.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm more excited about the news that we're getting Hela AND the Valkyrie.

Consider me sold.

And, honestly, the worst part of losing Jane Foster is that it probably means we're also losing Kat Dennings as Darcy. I always thought she was lot more fun than Jane.

 

[The Old Mixer]

The really absurd thing about the casting history of both Leiter and Blofeld is that they never seemed to go for even remotely similar actor types from one to the next.

 

[Greg Cox]

I'm more excited about the news that we're getting Hela AND the Valkyrie.

Consider me sold.

The really absurd thing about the casting history of both Leiter and Blofeld is that they never seemed to go for even remotely similar actor types from one to the next.

I confess that, as a kid, I always thought of Donald Pleasance as the "real" Blofeld, just as Julie Newmar will be always be the "real" Catwoman to me.

(Sorry, Eartha Kitt and Lee Meriwether.)

Meanwhile, I see now that it's being reported that Anthony Hopkins is coming back after all, so . . . never mind.

 

[Skywalker]

It's interesting that we're getting Skurge but not Amora the Enchantress. I guess since they're already featuring Hela as the villain that the Enchantress would be somewhat redundant, and so they decided to use Skurge as Hela's muscle instead.

I'm very curious to find out how the Grandmaster fits into all of this.

 

[Commander Richard]

Seriously, recasting is not something to be avoided at all costs.

Yeah, but let's not be so cavalier about it either.

In general, I think, audiences are more flexible than we sometimes give them credit for.

I've been vocal about it in the past. I'm one of those who really doesn't like recasting. Film is a visual medium so that aspect matters as much as the story and seeing faces swapped out doesn't sit well with me. It's even worse when they hire actors who look nothing alike. If they can't get Hopkins, I'd rather the character be written out. That's always my first wish when I hear that an actor isn't available.

[Edit] I see that Hopkins is coming back but I still stand by what I said.

 

[Gaith]

Meanwhile, I see now that it's being reported that Anthony Hopkins is coming back after all, so . . . never mind.

If they can shell out for Golblum in a movie where his presence as opposed to some solid no-name actor will sell at most a handful more tickets than it would have already, they can damn well shell out to bring back one of the greatest actors alive, not to mention one of the MCU's most powerful beings.

 

[Xerxes82]

It's interesting that we're getting Skurge but not Amora the Enchantress.

Don't be so sure. As I mentioned on the Marvel Cinematic Universe thread, and have since used Wikipedia to confirm, Valkyrie's first ever appearance (Avengers #83, 1970) was actually Amora in disguise. And especially with Tessa Thompson's version of the character supposedly serving as the new love interest, I can totally see them using that element to set up a villain reveal late in the film.

 

[Mage]

Jeff Goldblum AND Karl Urban in the MCU??

That, with the new Star Trek Beyond trailer, seriously kickstarted my weekend.

 

[Kor]

Portman is like JLaw, in that she doesn't want to do CBMovies anymore and wants more serious film work, like Black Swan (the film she won an Oscar for). Portman hasn't really done anything with her post-Oscar career though.

Yes, since her Oscar win, she's starred in masterpieces such as "Your Highness" and produced "Pride and Prejudice and Zombies."

Kor

 

[tomalak301]

Portman is like JLaw, in that she doesn't want to do CBMovies anymore and wants more serious film work, like Black Swan (the film she won an Oscar for). Portman hasn't really done anything with her post-Oscar career though.

It's a shame Portman feels that way. She's not the worst part of the Thor movies and like Kor said, she hasn't really done much oscar worthy since.