What's with Norway?

[Airwings]

Both Thor and Captain America have scenes from the town Tønsberg. What's so special about that place? And why couldn't they let more in the films take place there? Portman and Skarsgård could even have played Norwegian scientists.

[jonathancrane]

To be fair, Stellan Skarsgard is from one of the countries in the Norse Bloc (Sweden.)

[American Maid]

Originally Posted by Airwings

Both Thor and Captain America have scenes from the town Tønsberg. What's so special about that place? And why couldn't they let more in the films take place there? Portman and Skarsgård could even have played Norwegian scientists.

Well, Thor, of course, is based on the Norse god Tor, worshipped in that part of Europe through the Viking Era. In the films, they are presenting the Asgardians as incredibly powered extraterrestrial beings that might well have visited Earth in the past and inspired the myths. So it's natural that they would reference visits to somewhere in Scandinavia. Why they specifically chose Toensberg for the two scenes you mention, and Tromsoe for where, we are told, Jane has been relocated in The Avengers, I'm not certain. Maybe they chose them simply because they are Norwegian towns that have the "ø" (oe) letter in their names.

Skarsgaard's character Erik Selvig is presented as having Scandinavian heritage (e.g., he says he heard the stories of Thor and Co. as a child), though not more specifically than that.

As to why they haven't set more of the film there, there may be business reasons (such as tax credits) that explain it. Part of Thor: The Dark World has been filmed in Iceland, however.