Idris Elba wants his Dark Tower co-star Matthew McConaughey to play young Odin in the MCU. What's weird is that the idea of casting McConaughey in such a role would have seemed ridiculous less than a decade ago, as the actor had seemingly become content to while away his career in mostly poorly reviewed romantic comedies. Thankfully, the "McConaissance" then occurred, with McConaughey turning in excellent work in season 1 of HBO's True Detective, and acclaimed films like Dallas Buyers Club and Interstellar.
With this run of great roles at his back, McConaughey is firmly considered an A-list performer once again, and he's seemingly always in demand. McConaughey's most recent role came in The Dark Tower, an adaptation of Stephen King's epic dark fantasy book series. While that film ended up deeply flawed by most accounts, many reviews cited the charismatic lead performances of McConaughey and co-star Idris Elba as the one major saving grace that prevented The Dark Tower from being even worse than it was.
Related: 15 Best Thors In Marvel Comics, Ranked
Clearly Elba enjoyed working with McConaughey, as during a recent interview with MTV, the Thor: Ragnarok star suggested that the man who made "alright, alright, alright" a beloved catchphrase would make a great choice to play a younger version of Thor's father Odin within the MCU continuity.
While McConaughey and elder Odin portrayer Anthony Hopkins certainly don't bear much resemblance to each other in any superficial way, the idea is certainly an intriguing one, should Marvel Studios ever want to showcase a younger Odin in flashback. Another practical consideration is that McConaughey is only 13 years older than Chris Hemsworth, which would make it a bit odd for them to play father and son. Additionally, it's unclear how a younger version of Odin could be worked into the MCU continuity. From what we know about Ragnarok, Odin will have been living on Earth for some time and Thor and Loki will need to track him down.
On the other hand, moviegoers have shown a willingness to accept such odd casting choices if the performances that result from them are good enough, and McConaughey has more than proven his abilities as an actor at this stage in his career. Perhaps the biggest hurdle would be explaining why old Odin sounds like a Shakespearean actor and young Odin has a pronounced Texas drawl.
More: Complete Movie & TV Guide to The Marvel Cinematic Universe – Phase 1 to Phase 3
Source: MTV
