Monday
22Jun2009
Branagh Wowed Marvel with 'Thor' One-Man Show
Monday, June 22, 2009 at 8:28AM
Maybe you've wondered why Marvel chose Kenneth Branagh to direct Thor,
which is probably the closest thing to a high-wire act the studio is undertaking over the next few
years. Branagh is a great director, no doubt, but he's never done exemplary work when he's had a
big budget. In fairness to him, though, his only movie with a sizable budget is
Frankenstein.
"Kevin would give us the establishment of the shot and the situation: 'Here we are. We’re in (take your pick of location). And here’s Odin and he’s coming up to (pick a character).' And then Kenneth would come in and give you the color commentary. 'Odin has an air of majesty to him' and he’d act out the Odin part or the Thor part. So we sat there and literally got a three- hour one-man show from Kenneth Branagh. It was fantastic. People pay a lot of money for that kind of performance by one of the world’s greatest living actors."Let's just hope that show won't be better than the film they're making. Marvel is really gambling with unproven actors in the hero and villain roles, and putting it Branagh's hands, which is an adventurous choice, certainly isn't any guarantee for success. Maybe Marvel is less concerned with how this film plays and is more interested in shaping the character for later use in The Avengers. If that's the case, perhaps they all fell in love with Branagh's version of the story regardless of whether or not it's profitable.
Colin Boyd | Permalink | in Kenneth Branagh, Marvel Comics, Thor | Print Article | Email Article | 5 Comments | Share Article
Reader Comments (5)
Marvel can ill afford a stink bomb along the path to Avengers. Every film that acts in some way to establish the Avengers flick has to be a success. The masses aren't just going to show up out of nowhere and to get them out at all Marvel is going to have to get a number of things right. The lack of well known stars attached to Thor seems like an immediate speed bump in the way.
If Thor tanks, and it well might, doesn't that put Avengers in jeopardy? If Marvel's aim is to guide fans to the big Avengers tent pole by way of setting up its characters in other movies those movies have to be successful. Any flops and the whole thing caves in on itself. If they're smart they'd focus on building the best Avengers flick possible without the dependency on other films. Maybe in the end they will or they'll have no choice but to try if the supporting films fail to generate the buzz for Avengers. They stink up the box office enough and maybe none of the many films on their pegboard get done. I'm betting that they'll come back to focusing on what's made them money and beating the sequel horse to death.
This is indeed an interesting job.
There is very little in Branagh's career that explains why he would want to do this movie and even less to indicate that he would be any good at it.
I had a look at the crew, production design, costume etc to try to get a feel for how the film would look and feel. I all seems a bit bland and generic.
Last month I tried and failed to watch Branagh's rendition of the Magic Flute. On the other hand I thought his three Wallander TV-movies were quite good. But it's a world removed from Marvel's Thor.
I would say it's big risk-taking both on the part of the studio and director. As I have no particular interest in Thor whatsoever, I'm just goint to wait and see how it plays out.
Brian Blessed as Odin will certainly be watchable. He's more or less been doing it for most of his career, anyway.
It doesn't matter who directs it, people will come.
I really don't get that vibe jojo and I followed comics rather closely for the better part of 15 years. As a comic book title, Thor is hardly on par with his more popular peers who wander under the many X titles and he's got nothing on Spider-Man either. I'm sure the film will draw out the fanboys and others loyal to the character but for the film to be successful it will need far more than that. However, if we were to just go on fan base alone Thor's numbers would fall short. The Hulk has a greater following and it didn't garner much attention in either of its recent films.
If LJ's observations of things being bland and generic end up becoming the measure of the final cut then the norse god fails. Given Marvel's antics with Samuel L. Jackson and later Mickey Rourke I'm not sure they're fully committed to getting it done right. It seems more like getting something out there for the sake of doing it and hoping for a miracle.
Jojo obviously knows nothing about movies if he thinks that the director doesn't matter to a movie.
It's like saying it doesn't matter who's the Head of Microsoft or who's the President.
Also, if you look at Marvel's movies, the successful ones have been directed by accomplished directors, while the rubbish ones have been directed by lesser knowns with limited credentials.
I also agree with Asana's assessment that the movie needs to appeal well beyond the normal fan base to be successful.
How many fans of The Dark Knight were actually Batman fans? Not many, I'd say.