Ray Stevenson Talks Fat Volstagg in Thor

ray stevenson is volstagg in thor

Ray Stevenson made his mark playing Titus Pullo in the incredible Rome series, but he also made a splash earlier this year playing the title character of Frank Castle in Punisher: War Zone. Unfortunately the film was a bit of a disaster critically and at the box office but he was perfectly cast and did his job right.

Stevenson has also played some cool characters in King Arthur and Outpost among many others, but the best is yet to come as we’ll be seeing a lot more of the growing star in the next few years with him being cast and working on a few big films including a role in the Denzel Washington starrer, The Book of Eli. For the Rome fans out there, a feature film based after the series is also in development so we can expect to see Titus Pullo back in action yet again.

Needless to say, I’m a Stevenson supporter and I’m very excited that he’s been cast into my most anticipated Marvel Studios film: Thor. Stevenson, alongside Stuart Townsend and Tadanobu Asano, have been cast in the movie as The Warriors Three and Empire had a chance to talk to Ray about his large role in the trio

The Warriors Three play a supporting role in the Thor series and each of the three has their own distinct personality. Stevenson’s character, Volstagg is the comic relief and really loves to drink. Clumsy and large in size, Volstagg is a loyal friend of Thor and a warrior who gets the job done one way or another.

As I said above, Volstagg The Valiant is a big Asgardian. A BIG Asgardian. So, we expected some heavy prosthetics would be needed for Stevenson to play the role. There’s no time for him to chow down the unhealthy foods to gain weight in time for a production start in January.

Empire spoke with the talented actor about just this, and Stevenson seems to be loving every moment.

“It’s fantastic… I’ve tried the suit on, and what they’ve done is kind of sex him up: he’s sort of slimmer but rounder.”

Slimmer but rounder eh?

“He’s got every bit of that Falstaffian verve and vigour, and a bit of a beergut to suggest that enormous appetite, but he’s not the sort of Weeble-shaped figure he is in the comics. He’s Falstaff with muscles. I’ve got this amazing foam-injected undersuit that flexes with me. I can’t wait!”

I can’t either. Stevenson’s another great addition to the already-impressive cast.

Thor is directed by Kenneth Branagh and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s half-brother/nemesis, Loki, Natalie Portman as Thor’s human love interest, Jane Foster, Anthony Hopkins as Thor’s father, Odin, Stellan Skarsgård, Colm Feore, Jamie Alexander as Asgardian warrior/love interest, Sif and Idris Alba as the guardian Heimdall.

What do you think of Stevenson as Volstagg and the others in the Warriors Three?

Rehearsals for Thor have begun this week and shooting is scheduled to start mid-January, just a few weeks away!

Thor storms into theaters on May 20, 2011.

Source: Empire

Tags: punisher war zone, rome, thor,

Trish

Loved Ray Stevenson in the "Rome" series - I'm hoping he does very well in Thor. He's a good actor. In fact, I'd love to see him play Jack Reacher in the movie which is supposed to be made (eventually) based upon the novel "One Shot" by Lee Child. We shall see....

Manowar

Looks like Joseph Gatt has been added to the cast of Thor. Article said he might be playing Skurge, but I'm thinking maybe he will play The Absorbing Man.

Mike Wilkerson - 2GuysTalking

For those wondering more about Thor (like me! :) ) here's a listing online of relative and other key players regarding Thor!

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_Thor_Suppo...

INK

I liked all three punisher movies, for different reasons but I thought Travolta was horrible in the Thomas Jane movie.

rich

sam i agree, i thought jane nailed it too. I had a huge bias towards war zone for that reason..

these stupid franchises that think they can stay relevant without there franchise actor.. its the same as XXX state of the union. ICE CUBE you say?? ACTION flick you say? EXTREME sports mixed in? You sir have lost ya mind

drsambeckett

I never saw Warzone, looked pretty awful. I kinda like the Tom jane version, it got the character spot on, and Travolta was in full on maniac mode in that one. Always fun!

Thor has an amazing cast, it will be one hell of an interesting movie. I am a million times more excited to see it than another lame sequel. Yes Spiderman and XMen, Im thinking of you!

!_!

i thought warzone was one of the best punisher films out of all three, it was just like the MAX series in your screen, doing wut ennings does best with castle. i wish for the sequal to be about the slavers but it aint going to happend, screw all those haters

KanTstandYa

"foam injected muscle suit" where can i get one of those? working out sucks so bad

Darren seeley

"perfectly cast (as the Punisher) and did his job right"

Aside from WarZone being last year's release, I could not disagree more. If it were so, the film wouldn't stink as bad as it did. He's a good actor, yes. But even good actors can be in lousy pictures.

As for Thor, I'm sure he's fine. The "slimmer but rounder" bit sort of reminds me a bit of Russell Crowe in 'Gladiator'. That's the look I'm thinking of. Sort of husky, but in a good way.

ulik

Kind of a strange choice, I was hoping that Branden Gleeson would be cast as Volstagg but I'm sure that Ray will do well. Volstagg is also very tall so they have to do something about that too. As long as he's loud,boisterous always hungry and always ready for a big jug of good ol' Asgardian Mead, he'll be alright. BTW I liked his performance in Punisher WZ too,perfect casting,too bad the movie was not good enough. Was'nt his fault,Maybe when Marvel finally does a Punisher movie themselves, we'll get a great Punisher movie.

Mark Driesbach

I like the casting of thor too....i also thought that ray was well cast and did his job right as the punisher, and enjoyed the movie for the most part too, but it could have been BETTER!! most of the marvel movies to come out in recent years have been well cast in one way or another for me in part or in whole, Ryan Reynolds and Liev Shrieber in Wolverine were great; yet the movie was lacking something.

Iron Man was well cast too, good acting and the second one looks just as good if not better...even with the Jim Rhodes change up (and i like Terrence and Don's acting) and the bits and pieces coming out about the baddie make him look pretty good.

The Incredible Hulk was what ang lee's should have been in my opinion, great cast, awesome action and a tie in to Iron Man!!

Now we have to wait and see about The Captain America movie and pray we get some good casting there too =)