He was most recently seen as Young Thor opposite Anthony Hopkins in the Marvel Studios hit “Thor,” directed by Kenneth Branagh.

Now, 11-year-old actor Dakota Goyo stars in DreamWorks Pictures’ action-adventure “Real Steel” as Hugh Jackman‘s precocious son, Max. “Real Steel” revolves around Charlie Kenton (Jackman), a washed-up boxer in the near-future who, because his sport has been taken over by 8-foot steel robots, now lives in a world where he doesn’t fit in. With no fights and no prospects, he is forced to hustle as a small-time robot fight promoter. He earns just enough money to survive by piecing together low-end “bots” and traveling from one seamy underground boxing venue to the next for whatever prizefight he can wrangle for his automatons. Just when things can’t become any more desperate and complicated, his estranged 10-year-old son Max suddenly and unwillingly comes back into his life.

For the role of Max, the son who was abandoned early in his life by Jackman’s character, the filmmakers auditioned hundreds of boys and found many exceptional young actors. “We always had the feeling that there would be a kid out there who would be talented and who would have the right look, but would have that little something extra, something that you can’t quite put your finger on but is magic up on the screen,” says director Shawn Levy.