Hopkins Odin

Anthony Hopkins will play Odin to Chris Hemsworth's Thor in the upcoming Kenneth Branagh-helmed adaptation of the Thor comic, reports The Hollywood Reporter's Heat Vision.

Jude Law, Samuel L. Jackson and Robert De Niro are also listed as cast-members on the film's IMDb page. Whether they will all end up in the movie, which isn't slated for release until 2011, is something only Odin or some other supernatural being could know.

For those not familiar with Norse mythology, Thor is a big dude with an axe - or maybe a hammer - who dresses like an Olsen twin and dispenses justice...or maybe just randomly hits people with his axe or hammer, I don't really know.

Okay, I admit, I'm not familiar with Norse mythology either. No one is, except someone who studied it in college, or read a lot of comic books.

I am, however, familiar with the films of Kenneth Branagh. They tend to be a tad overwrought and the actors tend to spit a lot. Which means Thor will probably be big and loud and sucky, but with lots of British accents and spitting.

The accents and spitting may be enough to fool some people into thinking they're seeing something better than Bloodrayne 2.

Woody's New (Scarlett-less) Flick Has A Title

I've lost track of how many movies Woody Allen has made in his long, increasingly-less-interesting career. The last one he finished, Whatever Works, is currently wending its way to my residence courtesy of Netflix. His next to go before the lens will be entitled You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger, according to The Hollywood Reporter.

You Will Meet a Tall Dark Stranger will concern the "tangled love-lives" of a crazy family, and will star Antonio Banderas, Josh Brolin, Anthony Hopkins and Naomi Watts. Even for Woody Allen, that's a wacky cast.

Note that, like Whatever Works, the new film will lack the presence of one Scarlett Johansson. Woody's former muse has not gotten any work from him since she went all diva and was left behind by the Vicky Cristina Barcelona Cannes contingent. Woody said then that he was "disappointed" in Scarlett. I guess the rift between them is permanent.

Aw darn.