It's hard to argue with Chris Hemsworth's success. He first drew eyeballs in a small, but pivotal role in JJ Abrams' Star Trek, and has been making hits ever since. This year has been the biggest yet, with both The Avengers and Snow White and the Huntsman pulling in major bucks. Ok, so maybe The Cabin in the Woods didn't work out, but that film had a lot going against it. You need someone to lead your franchise, Hemsworth is your guy. Does anyone actually want to pay to see him act, though?
We'll find out the answer to that question when Ron Howard's race car drama, Rush, comes out. After that, Hemsworth may be starring in an adaptation of Nathaniel Philbrick's maritime history novel, In the Heart of the Sea. It's an incredible book, based on the true story of The Essex whaling ship, which in 1820 was attacked and sunk by an attacking sperm whale. Straight up. They were stranded thousands of miles from home, and the twenty surviving sailors were dangerously low on food and water. Ultimately, they were forced to turn to cannibalism to survive the 90 day ordeal. Hemsworth would play the ship's first mate, who of course becomes the hero of the piece. The Essex story was largely the inspiration for Herman Melville's classic novel, Moby-Dick.
Bouncing around for the past twelve years, we're probably still a ways off from seeing it even hit the production stage. Charles Leavitt(Blood Diamond) wrote the script, but there's no director even attached yet. Nor does it have a studio attached, although Dreamworks is close to picking it up. [Deadline]
