Stuart Townsend booted from Thor, Charlize Theron pissed.

For the second time in a relatively short career, Stuart Townsend has been dropped by a big-time movie just as filming was getting underway. Famously replaced by Viggo Mortensen in the LORD OF THE RINGS trilogy for allegedly being too young, Townsend has now been dropped by the upcoming Marvel flick THOR where he was set to appear as Fandral. Townsend will be replaced by newcomer Joshua Dallas in the film, which begins filming today in Los Angeles.

While the party line in the Associated Press story was that Townsend, who’s in a longtime relationship with Charlize Theron, was replaced due to “creative differences,” Harry Knowles at Ain’t It Cool broke in with a report that said the actor was fired after showing up over six hours late for a screen test. I’m sure there’s more to it than that, but I’m also sure there’s more to it than “creative differences.”

THOR, which stars Chris Hemsworth, Natalie Portman and Anthony Hopkins is set for a May 6, 2011 release.