As hot as superhero movies are these days, it’s hard to imagine an actor turning down the opportunity to be part of what could be another blockbuster cash machine. Nonetheless, James Bond actor Daniel Craig has reportedly said no to being comic-book icon Thor. The actor told movie reporting website IESB.net that he was approached by Marvel but passed on the offer to play the hammer-swinging Norse god.
‘It would have been too much of a power trip, both Bond and Thor, and running around with long hair and a hammer,’ Craig joked with the site. The actor returns as British super-spy James Bond in Quantum of Solace, which hits theaters on Nov. 14. He also stars in Edward Zwick’s Defiance, in which he plays one of three Jewish brothers who flee Nazi-occupied Poland and band with Russian resistance fighters to protect themselves and other Jews. That pic has been pushed back to Dec. 26.
Kenneth Branagh, who may have been considered for the role of Thor earlier in his acting career, is in talks with Marvel to direct the upcoming flick. Slated for release by Paramount in 2010, Thor will be self-financed by Marvel. The screenplay by Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend, Poseidon, The Cell) revolves around a disabled medical student named Donald Blake, who becomes the Norse god to battle evil forces.
