Video:Chris Hemsworth Interview - Thor and The Avengers

Transcript:Chris Hemsworth Interview - Thor and The Avengers

Rebecca Murray from About.com Hollywood Movies at the 2011 CinemaCon Awards Gala Press Conference.

[Pardon the quality of the video. It was done without my usual camera person working my professional video camera and instead was shot with a handheld digital camera - and I did the filming which means it occasionally isn't framed well.]

Chris Hemsworth - Thor and The Avengers

Chris Hemsworth: "It was a dream for me to be able to play a superhero in a film this size with people that were involved was fantastic. Everything this far has been incredibly positive and I had a great time."

Can you talk about getting ready for The Avengers?

Chris Hemsworth: "Sure. Putting back on the weight that I put on for Thor, so I'm back in the gym and eating chicken and various animals and doing my thing. There's a new draft coming soon so that's getting better and better. I've met with some of the cast individually and talked about some of ideas. But now I go off and do the press tour for Thor, so that's taking up the next month of my life. Then I jump straight into The Avengers."

So you are still getting ready for The Avengers?

Chris Hemsworth: "Yeah. We've got the press tour for Thor and then around May I start shooting The Avengers. And yeah, it's sort of a combination of two films at the moment in my mind."

Can you go back to the process of choosing you as Thor?

Chris Hemsworth: "I'd auditioned very early in the process, probably six or seven months before we started shooting. I originally had an audition which didn't go too well and it didn't go any further. I was away shooting a movie and they were sort of trying to find the guy. They almost had that selection of guys and it didn't work out. I got a second chance and was asked to send a tape in from Vancouver. I actually had my mom staying with me at the time, and on the 17th floor of the hotel she was filming with a camera in the kitchen of this small hotel room and reading the lines for me. That tape got me a recall, got me back in and got me the part. I should thank my mom, I guess."

Can you talk about putting on the costume for the first time?

Chris Hemsworth: "Yeah, it was surreal. I spent four or five months reading comic books and had this guy sort of burnt into my brain, and to be wearing the costume and to finally feel the part was like being a kid playing dress up but more serious and expensive. It was surreal."

Have you been a fan of Marvel characters?

Chris Hemsworth: "Previously to this? I didn't really read comic books growing up. I knew about the characters because they have such a wide circulation and they've been around for 50 years or something, but I wasn't an avid reader. Getting the part I was inundated with the comic books and I certainly became a fan."

Can you talk about working with Kenneth Branagh on that set, because he's not used to big action films?

Chris Hemsworth: "Yeah. Obviously everyone knows him for his Shakespearean background, the very heavy characters of the theater, very trained for this stuff. And on one hand it was sort of an odd combination to throw him on a film like this, but I think it was kind of a perfect mix. Marvel is such a machine in themselves, with the special effects and these characters, and then you bring in someone to take care of that real heavy character details and it's a great combination, you know? And actually I was incredibly surprised how innovative he was with the special effects side of things. But he's a fan of these types of films and always has been. He loves storytelling in general. Although his background has been mainly Shakespearean, Superman he would talk about a lot and go off on, I guess. He was wonderful though. He was one f the best directors I've worked with."

What's the feedback been from home since they heard you were playing Thor? How have they reacted?

Chris Hemsworth: "Well I've actually been here most of the time, and I go back for the press tour pretty soon and they're going to let me back in, which is a good sign. I'm hearing positive things about it and people are very excited. You know, Australia is very supportive of other Australians doing well overseas. I'm glad we get to have the world premiere there with my family and friends."

Where are you from?

Chris Hemsworth: "Melbourne. I grew up in Melbourne and lived in the northern territory, in the Outback, and back to Melbourne then Sydney, so I bounced around a bit."

The clips that they showed had a little humor to them. What's the tone of Thor?

Chris Hemsworth: "It's a good combination, you know? It certainly is the big special effects spectacle you'd expect from Marvel and those types of films. There's a great sense of humor through it. There's a good sense of heart and character, and that was one of the things on set was we were playing gods on one hand but it was also about simplifying it and saying, 'This is a scene between father and son or brother to brother,' and making it relatable to us as actors and the audience."

Did the accent come easy for you?

Chris Hemsworth: "90% of our television and films in Australia is American. We grow up with all their cartoons and films, watching them over the years, and so as a kid you kind of develop the second ear for it. Also on the technical side of things, I've been told by dialect coaches that the placement of our accent is similar to the Americans so it's probably easier in some way. I had a dialect coach for this film and I've done four or five films in an American accent. This particular film was more about neutralizing my accent and having a tonal thing that we wanted to find with the character, heading into sort of a British speak and Old English feel. It wasn't regional specific. But, yeah, I had a dialect coach and voice coach as well."

More on Thor:

• Thor Photos
• Another interview with Chris Hemsworth
• Chris Hemsworth Resources
• Thor Trailers, Posters, Interviews, News and Cast List