Mania.com, 3 January 2011
By Rob M. Worley

Hemsworth Talks THOR
Marvel.com chats up actor Chris Hemsworth about the Thor movie.

As fans can tell from the latest trailers, the movie finds Thor cast down from Asgard by Odin as punishment for his arrogance and battle lust. Hemsworth said it's tricky to portray a character that starts off so deeply flawed and potentially unlikeable.

"Certainly, that’s a big part of this film. He has to be that warrior and he still has to have those elements. That’s what makes him Thor. But also, you don’t want to watch a guy for too long on screen who’s just a jerk all the time," Hemsworth said. "You get moments of it, where it’s kind of cool and bad, but then it just gets old. You’ve got to find that balance, and at the right times, sneak a bit of it back in."

Director Kenneth Branagh prepped Hemsworth by providing certain literature, which wasn't limited to Thor comics.

"Kenneth got me 'Siddhartha', a Hermann Hesse book, about a man trying to find his place in life," recalls Hemsworth. "It’s about a person who goes through all these temptations. Thor, in effect, is different from Siddhartha, but it’s a human being trying to find out his purpose and how he’s going to go about his life. Ken said, ‘Look, this is just a bright book that I love. It might give you something for the film or just personally.’ I love it, it’s certainly one of my favorite books."

The character's interactions with Jane Foster (played by Natalie Portman) are part of his quest back to becoming worthy enough to wield Mjolnir, which Hemsworth said is a pretty strange weapon of choice, at least as Jack Kirby designed it back in the 1960s.

"It’s a rather impractical weapon in a sense," Hemsworth said. "It’s got this big huge head on it and a tiny little handle. We talked about boxing a lot actually, I’ve done Muay Thai for years, which keeps you on your toes, but boxing is a more grounded technique. You talk about Mike Tyson, low to the ground, using your power through your legs. A lot of that influenced Thor, with big shoulder movements. It becomes sort of gritty, street fighting stuff at times. He also happens to have a big hammer in his hands at the time too."

Thor opens in theatures May 6th.