Chris Hemsworth feared he'd lost Thor role to little brother Liam

Written by . Published: September 14 2017

Chris Hemsworth almost lost out on his role as superhero Thor - to his little brother Liam.


Both stars auditioned for the part and Liam was the first to get a call back from director Kenneth Branagh.

Chris tells W magazine, "I remembered reading the breakdown for Thor and it said, 'Must be over 6’3" and 200 pounds', and so on. I thought, 'Oh cool, this is the one thing that sort of fits me'. Most of the time, I’d have to lie about my height and say I was a little shorter and so on. I’d only get cast or auditioned for the football player or something. So I thought, 'Great. This is up my alley'.

"I came into the audition with Kenneth Branagh and thought I nailed it and then never heard anything back.

"Months went by and then my brother, my little brother, Liam, was in Australia and sent a tape across and he got a call back, then another call back and then was down to the last kind of four or five people for it."

The older Hemsworth was shooting Cabin in the Woods in Vancouver, Canada when he really started to feel somehow he'd blown his chance at playing Thor, but then he got an unexpected call from his manager, explaining he'd reminded Branagh that Liam had an older, bigger brother.

"So I did an audition in Vancouver in this hotel room with my mom reading Anthony Hopkins' part," he recalls. "She must have nailed it because it got me back in the room and that second audition was a lot different than my first one.

"I came in kind of with a little, I guess, motivation and maybe frustration that my little brother had gotten further than me. It’s a little family, sibling rivalry sort of kicked up in me. Then it moved pretty quick from there."

Chris has now played the mythical Norse god in five movies, including two Avengers films and last year's Doctor Strange. He has reprised the role for the upcoming Thor: Ragnarok.