(Laughs) Yes. Most characters you play, you can study people. If you're playing a doctor you can spend time with doctors to get a sense of who they are. If you are playing a politician, the same thing.

But, a god is different. You can't find a god in the Yellow Pages (laughs). What I tried to do was humanize the character. That is what I thought was key.

- It's interesting to watch Thor's transformation. He's booted down to Earth by his father because he is too brash.

Yeah. He's cocky, aggressive and thinks his way is the right way, but he is also in need of a humility lesson. He gets that on Earth. We watch him transform and become more aware of others and their feelings.

-  The stunts in Thor are amazing. A lot of work obviously went into them.

Oh yeah. We had two of the best stunt coordinators in the business, Andy and Vic Armstrong, who have been doing these amazing stunts for something like 30 years. I have never seen anything like what they put together, with all of the elaborate wire work and and the hand -to-hand combat.

-  What about the sets? How much was green screen?

You'd be surprised how little green screen we have. The director, Kenneth Branagh, felt it was important to have as many actual sets built as possible rather than relying on green screen. So what you see is largely real.

Bo Welch was the production designer and has been responsible for the fantastic sets in the Men in Black films, Edward Scissorhands, Beetle Juice. You name it.

- What was it like being on the set with Sir Anthony Hopkins each day?

I must admit, when I met him I was really nervous, but that soon went away because he is the nicest, most humble man you could ever meet.

- So after you got to know him you treated him like any other actor?

Not really (laughs). Just when I'd get comfortable I'd do a scene with him and he would just be utterly brilliant. He'd blow me away.

- Can you think of one particular scene?

Yeah. There's a scene where our characters are arguing and I thought I was holding my own. Then, Ken (Branagh) came over, whispered something in Sir Anthony's ear. I have no idea what he said, but whatever it was it flicked a switch in Sir Anthony.

We did the scene again and he was just amazing. He was engulfed in all of this fury and emotion and it was incredibly powerful. People on the set were applauding when the scene was over. Some people were in such awe they had tears in their eyes.

I thought, up until that point, I was holding my own with him, but, in a flash he knocked me out. He was the master and I was his apprentice (laughs).

- I don't know. I think you were pretty impressive. I think you held your own.

Thanks. I appreciate that. It was the best acting experience of my life to be on a film with Sir Anthony, Ken, Natalie Portman and all of the other great cast and crew.

- What was it like working with Natalie Portman?

She is the sweetest, most wonderful person. I had heard a lot of wonderful things about her and have been a big fan of her movies, so it was great to meet her and find out everything I'd heard was true.

- Were you a fan of the Thor comic books before doing the film?

To be honest, no. I didn't read the comic books until I began auditioning for the part. But, I have always been fascinated by Norse mythology and vikings.

Thor is out on DVD & Blu-Ray now.

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