Chris Hemsworth, the muscled once-and-future Thor in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, appears set to join the all-female Ghostbusters reboot. In keeping with director Paul Feig’s gender bending re-imagining of the beloved 80s comedy franchise, Hemsworth is set to play the receptionist for ghost-hunters Melissa McCarthy, Kristen Wiig, Leslie Jones, and Kate McKinnon. Fans of the original series will recall that Pretty in Pink actress Annie Potts portrayed the gang’s secretary in the original incarnation.
Feig took to Twitter to announce Hemsworth’s casting. It’s a choice that’s playfully in keeping with Feig’s recent filmography, as the director has become a force for female-powered filmmaking in recent years. His 2011 blockbuster Bridesmaids (which earned stars Wiig and McCarthy Oscar nods in the Screenplay and Supporting Actress categories, respectively) jolted the industry and proved to be a wake-up call for female representation in movies. Feig’s follow-up—the 2013 buddy cop action comedy Heat, starring McCarthy and Sandra Bullock—further proved the case and continued to inspire countless think-pieces on the merits of female-driven comedy and their profitability at the box office. Currently, Feig’s Spy (also starring McCarthy) is earning him and McCarthy strong box office numbers and some of the best reviews of their respective careers in their female-centered subversion of the spy genre.
For Hemsworth, Ghostbusters could make for a bright opportunity to branch away from the hammer-wielding superhero role he’s most known for. In 2013, the actor made his most about-faced turn in the biopic Rush for director Ron Howard and will re-unite with the Oscar-winning A Beautiful Mind filmmaker for the Moby Dick-inspired yarn In the Heart of the Sea, due in theaters later this year. Aside from continuing his Marvel duty and his Snow White and the Huntsman role in the sequel The Huntsman, the actor also has supporting role in Vacation, another reboot of a 1980s comedy franchise, due in theaters later this summer, and appeared in Michael Mann’s cyber thriller Blackhat earlier this year.
Production on Ghostbusters, which Feig co-wrote along with The Heat scribe Katie Dippold, is slated to begin later this summer with Sony ear-marking a release date of July 22, 2016.
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