THOR: Stuart Townsend Replaced on First Day of Shooting

The Associated Press is reporting that Stuart Townsend who was playing Fandral, one of the Warriors Three, has been replaced as the film began rolling cameras today.

Townsend, if you remember, was cast as Aragorn in the Lord of the Rings movies, but was replaced at the last minute then, too.  Granted, Fandral isn’t anywhere near as large a role as Aragorn, but this is going to be one of the biggest movies of 2011 and it certainly wouldn’t have hurt him.  I mean, even the AP says that the thing he’s best known for is being the boyfriend of Charlize Theron.

I’m really excited to see this film shape up and and am doubly excited to hear that it’s already filming.

The other potentially interesting bit in the AP article is a brief synopsis of the film.  So many have been published and they all vary wildly, but this could really be something (or nothing):

“Thor” stars Chris Hemsworth in the title role, a warrior cast down to Earth to live among mortals as punishment for his reckless actions, which rekindled an ancient war in the realm of Asgard. Thor’s troubles continue after dark forces of Asgard are dispatched to invade Earth.