Thor role fun, frustrating for one-time Las Vegan

Two years ago, you could see Cody Deal in his Roman soldier garb, escorting Caesar and Cleopatra around Caesars Palace. Next weekend, you can see him in his first starring role as Thor.

Not in the mega-hyped, big-screen "Thor." Not even close. Deal plays the Norse god in "Almighty Thor" (9 p.m. Saturday, Syfy), the cable channel's latest original "mockbuster."

No one's going to mistake the two -- except, perhaps, late at night at a Redbox. Which surely is at least half the reason "Almighty Thor" exists.

Consider:

■ "Thor" filmed for 90 days on a budget of $150 million; "Almighty Thor" was completed in 12 days for roughly $500,000.

■ "Thor" boasts Oscar winners Anthony Hopkins and Natalie Portman; "Almighty Thor's" biggest names belong to '80s heartthrob Richard Grieco and wrestler Kevin Nash.

■ "Thor" was directed by Kenneth Branagh, who shepherded numerous Shakespeare adaptations into cinemas; "Almighty Thor" was helmed by Christopher Ray, who brought you "Mega Shark vs. Crocosaurus."

■ And I'm probably safe in assuming that, unlike "Almighty Thor," the big-screen version doesn't feature Thor and his nemesis shooting at each other with an Uzi.

But what else would you expect from the channel where the planet is plagued by "Ice Twisters." Where former pop rivals Debbie Gibson and Tiffany catfight their way through a dessert table. And where "Sharktopus" does, well, whatever it wants to.

"We are trying to capture the spirit -- the Saturday night at the movies spirit -- that our audience had when they were younger," Thomas Vitale, Syfy's executive vice president of programming and original movies, says of the channel's twice-a-month B-movies. "We're creating on a Saturday night that shared viewing experience of this kind of escapist, fun, sci-fi, creature, horror, supernatural, disaster movie."

Over the past few years, Syfy original movies have become required viewing both for fans of genre films and those snarkmeisters over at "The Soup," who are quick to catalog the movies' shortcomings.

"We understand all the limitations, the practical limitations, of the time crunch, and getting it done, and the budget crunch, and all of that," Vitale says of the notoriously shoestring productions. "But what we're trying to do is make movies that will entertain the audience on a Saturday night."

Few people, though, understand those limitations quite like Deal.

A script that wasn't finished until day three of the 12-day shoot. Scenes that wrapped after a single take even if they weren't quite right. Filming from 6 a.m. to 6 p.m., training with a dialogue coach until 8 p.m., then working out until 10:30 p.m. All for the princely sum of $100 a day -- which, even without accounting for overtime, is barely minimum wage.

"I can say it's definitely the hardest $1,200 I earned," Deal says of "Almighty Thor," for which he has become a one-man publicity machine. "But it was also the funnest $1,200 I earned."

Deal, 25, moved to Las Vegas from Kansas in 2007. He hoped to model, he'd met a girl, but mostly he wanted out of Kansas. He was part of the team that opened Dos Caminos at the Palazzo, became a personal trainer and performed promotional work for Chippendales. But it was the Centurion gig at Caesars that set him on his path to Hollywood.

Deal found extra work on various movie and TV projects -- "The Hangover" and ABC's "The View," to name a couple -- that filmed at the resort.

"Just getting on these sets and seeing these people interact, it built up my self-confidence," he says. "It made me realize (show business is) not as hard as I think it is."

After three or four months of studying with local acting coach Gerald Gordon, Deal packed up and left for Hollywood for his first audition: the lead role in Marvel's big-budget "Thor." He also read for the part of Conan the Barbarian in the upcoming big-screen remake and for the lead in the Starz drama "Spartacus: Blood and Sand," both despite a complete lack of experience.

"I can't explain, like, how I've gotten these opportunities. It's kind of " -- Deal pauses to search for the right word -- "odd? But very cool at the same time."

And while he didn't land those jobs, when the role of Thor came around again, he was prepared. Or so he thought.

"Almighty Thor" was produced by The Asylum, the micro-budget makers of such fare as "Transmorphers," which came out days before 2007's "Transformers," and "Battle of Los Angeles," which was timed to this spring's "Battle: Los Angeles." (Syfy develops most of its original movies, but "Almighty Thor" was acquired after it was completed.)

"The thing is, they put out subpar products," Deal says of The Asylum. "And that's their business model. There's nothing wrong with that, because they're still highly enjoyable, entertaining films that people love to watch. But as an actor, it's a little bit frustrating."

Most of that frustration stemmed from the breakneck shooting schedule that rarely allowed him to be better than just good enough.

"When you have a low budget, it's not just about visual effects," Deal acknowledges. "It's like everything is sacrificed. Everything is compromised."

Yes, those effects are questionable, and both Deal's Thor and Grieco's Loki spend an inordinate amount of time -- like, drinking game-worthy amounts of time -- walking with purpose. But that's to be expected when, from the sound of things, a movie about the making of "Almighty Thor" would be every bit as entertaining as the finished product.

"If anybody watches this -- like a producer, a director or a casting director -- and they know that it was shot this way, if I can look halfway decent as an actor ... then I know I'm a step ahead," Deal says of the movie that, for now, stands as his calling card.

"Because what can happen if I can put up my best work? If I do get that time and I do get that chance?"

Christopher Lawrence's Life on the Couch column appears on Sundays. Contact him at clawrence@reviewjournal.com.