<P> In October 2008, Marvel Studios signed a long - term lease agreement with Raleigh Studios to photograph their next four films--Iron Man 2, Thor, Captain America: The First Avenger and The Avengers--at Raleigh's Manhattan Beach, California facility . Production Weekly reported that filming on Marvel's Thor was scheduled to begin in Los Angeles mid-January, then move to Santa Fe, New Mexico from March until late - April . Principal photography began on January 11, 2010 . A few days after filming began, Clark Gregg signed on to reprise his role from Iron Man and Iron Man 2 as Agent Coulson . In February, Paramount Pictures entered negotiations with Del Mar, California to use a 300 - yard stretch of beach to film a scene for Thor involving six horses running down the terrain . Paramount said this coastline was ideal because its gradual slope of sand down to the waterline creates excellent reflective opportunities on film . On March 15, 2010 production of Thor moved to Galisteo, New Mexico, where an old - fashioned Western film town was extensively modified for the shoot . </P> <P> Branagh, a fan of the comic book since childhood, commented on the challenge of bridging Asgard and the modern world: "Inspired by the comic book world both pictorially and compositionally at once, we've tried to find a way to make a virtue and a celebration of the distinction between the worlds that exist in the film but absolutely make them live in the same world . It's about finding the framing style, the color palette, finding the texture and the amount of camera movement that helps celebrate and express the differences and the distinctions in those worlds . If it succeeds, it will mark this film as different...The combination of the primitive and the sophisticated, the ancient and the modern, I think that potentially is the exciting fusion, the exciting tension in the film". </P> <P> By April, the prospect for filming parts of Thor in Del Mar, California had fallen through . Paramount Pictures sent a letter informing the city that it has instead chosen an undisclosed Northern California location to film a beachfront scene for the film . The letter cited cost concerns with moving production too far away from its headquarters . Filming wrapped on May 6, 2010 . </P> <P> In October 2010, casting calls revealed the film would be undergoing an undisclosed number of reshoots . In March 2011, scenes involving Adriana Barraza were removed from the theatrical cut of the film during the editing process . Branagh sent a letter of apology explaining the reasons for the cut and desire to work with Barraza again in the future . In response Barraza stated, "It saddens me because the movie is great and because I was acting alongside some tremendous actors that I admire very much, but I understand the nature of films, and it's not the first or last time that scenes will be cut". Barraza appears in only one scene in the film's theatrical cut . In that same month, Douglas Tait revealed that he performed for motion capture of the Frost Giants . On his hiring, Tait said "I am 6'5" and have a lean, athletic build, and they hired guys who were 6'7" and taller, and weighed over 250 pounds (110 kg). When the film was being edited, they wanted to make them even bigger and move faster . They auditioned people again and Kenneth Branagh chose me to perform the motion capture movements of the Frost Giants ". In April 2011, the IMAX Corporation, Paramount Pictures and Marvel Entertainment announced that they have finalized an agreement to release the film in IMAX 3D, continuing the partnership which began on Iron Man 2 . Branagh stated that the 3 - D process initially made him cringe but said "We came to feel that in our case 3 - D could be the very good friend of story and character for a different kind of experience". Although the film was shot in 2D, Feige stated that the "special effects for the film were conceived and executed from the beginning in 3D". The post-credits scene that sees Nick Fury approach Erik Selvig to ask him to study the Tesseract, was directed by The Avengers's director, Joss Whedon . </P>

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