Branagh in talks to direct 'Thor'
Brit set to wield hammer on Marvel Studios pic
By MICHAEL FLEMING

Kenneth Branagh is negotiating to direct "Thor," the next Marvel Comics property that will be turned into a live-action film by Marvel Studios. Pic will be released in 2010.

Marvel Studios chief Kevin Feige's choice of Branagh is surprising, as Branagh hasn't really directed an action-heavy film since his debut on "Henry V," a bloody telling of the British king's conquest of France.

Branagh is the latest in a string of directors -- such as Jon Favreau ("Iron Man"), Christopher Nolan (the Batman franchise) and Gavin Hood ("X-Men Origins: Wolverine") -- with arthouse roots taking on big-budget comicbook fare.

Marvel will set a distributor for "Thor" shortly.

"Thor" comicbook adaptation, penned by Mark Protosevich, follows disabled medical student Donald Blake, who has an alter ego as the hammer-wielding Norse god Thor.

Marvel will self-finance the film via its $500 million credit facility through Merrill Lynch. Marvel used that coin to fund both "Iron Man" and "The Incredible Hulk" and will do the same for the "Iron Man" sequel that has director Favreau and star Robert Downey Jr. returning.

The "Thor" negotiations come during a resurgence for Branagh. He's currently drawing raves on the London stage in the title role of "Ivanov," and he'll next be seen acting in the Richard Curtis-directed "The Boat That Rocked" and the Bryan Singer-helmed "Valkyrie."

Branagh is repped by Endeavor and manager Judy Hofflund.

#1 VERILY! KENNETH BRANAGH DOTH VALIANTLY PLEDGE TO HELM YON THOR FOR THOU!

If there's one thing that always made Thor stand out as a character and a comic to me, it was his vaguely-Shakespearean way of speaking. I don't know if Stan Lee intended it, but he basically educated generations of kids about antiquated words like "thou", "thee" and "doth", and it made Thor seem even more "bad ass" along the way. Thor putting his big stone hammer beatdown on some troll, yelling something like "Verily, thou will not stand!"; you just don't get better than that in classic comics. Walt Simonson's 1980s run was also great at that. And so, it makes a brilliant kind of perfect sense that Marvel is negotiating to put the job of directing Thor in the hands of Kenneth Branagh, who has built his reputation on his adaptations of Shakespeare's plays. With a script full of Thor-speak, Branagh will be the guy to make sure that the actors are able to speak that way without sounding, you know, really lame. And now, I will do a little of speculating. Might Marvel also have an eye on getting Branagh to also play Thor's human alter-ego, the meek, crippled Dr. Donald Blake? Branagh obviously doesn't have the frame or stature to play Thor himself, but he seems like a very good choice to play Blake, but again, that's just me guessing. Like Robert Downey, Jr., Kenneth Branagh is an actor who seems ripe for breaking out from the B list into being a major star. Branagh's got the second star spot in Valkyrie coming next year (presuming that Tom Cruise-pirate-looking-Nazi movie doesn't flop), and if he were to star in Thor, that might just do the trick for his career.

It’s been over two months since word broke that Marvel was courting Kenneth Branagh to direct their next big-screen re-launch of one of their cherished heroes, Thor. And since then we’ve heard nary a peep from Branagh himself. At today’s junket for “Valkyrie,” MTV News caught up with the actor/filmmaker and of course brought up the project.

“I am directing “Thor” or “The Mighty Thor’ as you might like to call it,” he said with a smile before clarifying what the title of the film will be. “I think it will be ‘Thor’.”

MTV has spoken to other writers about why Branagh would be such a good fit for the hero. But here was finally an opportunity to hear from Branagh about what appealed to him about the project. So what’s the appeal of “Thor,” Kenneth? “To work on a story about one of the immortals, Gods, extraordinary beings, inter-dimensional creatures,” he enthused.

He continued excitedly, “There’s science fiction and science fact and fantasy all woven into one. It’s based on Norse legends which Marvel sort of raided in a brilliant way.

So who will play Branagh’s hero? Asked about the rumors of Kevin McKidd being up for the role, the director waved it off as premature speculation.

“There’s been lots of talk [about casting] — I sound like a politician — but we are too early at this stage. We’re getting the story and the visual effects together and all of that is very exciting. Someone sensational is going to play the part but it is early days.”

Just because Branagh hasn’t worked on a project of this scale since “Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein,” fear not. This “Thor” promises to be as large as the character would seem to call out for. “It’s a chance to tell a big story on a big scale,” said Branagh. “It’s a human story right in the center of a big epic scenario.”