Thor's Jaimie Alexander Wants to Be Your Next Lara Croft

For a while anyway, actress Jaimie Alexander should have enough to keep her busy with the inevitable continuation of the Thor franchise, in which she enjoys her blockbuster breakthrough as the title hero's comely comrade-in-arms Sif. But a rising star always has to be the lookout for the next opportunity, and a recent development with a certain action heroine has Alexander's interest particularly piqued.

"I can tell you what I'm interested in right now," she told Movieline today. "I've obviously been hearing about a Tomb Raider reboot, which I think would be pretty awesome -- Lara Croft. Anything that's very physical. I'm reading a few scripts here and there, and we'll see. It's all sort of up in the air."

Acknowledging her history of physical roles, including that of her original TV breakthrough on the series Kyle XY, Alexander noted also that she had recently shot a period drama (Savannah) and a contemporary indie (Loosies, written by and co-starring Twilight Saga regular Peter Facinelli) to keep her resume diverse. Still, she said, "I would love to pursue Lara Croft," the adventuring video-game archaeologist brought to life in two films by Angelina Jolie and currently being revived by Iron Man screenwriters Mark Fergus and Hawk Ostby.

"I'm not going to try and be Angelina Jolie," Alexander said. "She's her own woman, and she did a fantastic job as Lara Croft. If that opportunity arises for me, then I would put my own spin on Lara Croft. There's no way I would try and copy what she did. I think that's a huge mistake with actors and actresses who are taking on a role that was previously done by someone else."

Asked to elaborate on her spin, Alexander continued: "Well, let's use Angelina Jolie as an example. She has her own sex appeal. She's built very differently than I am. She's her own woman. And I think that if you try to mimic that -- if I was trying to pull off the exact way she said certain things and how she carried herself -- then that's not being me. That's just copying another actor. Whereas you can look to other actors for inspiration, you should still maintain your own identity through a character. And that's something I would love to tackle."

We shall see. What are your thoughts on Alexander as Lara Croft? In any case, check back here May 23 for the rest of Alexander's interview (including her thoughts on Thor 2) as part of Movieline's weekly Verge feature.

[Photo: Gabriel Bouys/AFP/Getty Images]