Marvel Editor-in-Chief Joe Quesada recently answered a pile of questions for Comic Book Resources, and among the topics, the Thor movie adaptation was naturally one of the prime topics covered. Quesada was asked how confident that he was in the the project and how he answers to those who remain skeptical of Thor’s ability to work as a movie and become the next mega-franchises.
While it’s obvious that Quesada wasn’t going to say anything negative about a property in which he holds massive stake in, it is still interesting enough to read what him and others like them are seeing from the film makers. He talks about how we the movie-goers — whether fans of Thor or not — will go in expecting one thing or another, and that none of us will get what we expect. He also goes on to talk about how unbelievably passionate director Kenneth Branagh is when he’s directing, and what he thinks while watching him work.
Click over and continue reading to check out the massive quote from Quesada. You can also head over to the link above to check out a bunch more questions and answers from the Marvel chief.
We are incredibly confident. And there isn’t much I could say to convince people beyond, “Look at these designs! Look at this script! Look at the moments in this story and tell me it won’t be a huge success.” But, that’s obviously something I can’t do, so the one thing I can say – and I’ve said as much to Marvel Studios head Kevin Feige – is that people are going to go into this movie with a preconceived idea about what it will be. If you’re a comics fan, you’ll have a preconceived notion of what you’re going to get. If you’re a non-comics fan, you’ll have another notion of what the movie is all about. And what’s really amazing is that both groups will walk away going, “I’ve never seen anything like this before within the super hero genre.” It’s so cool, and I don’t want to use the word unusual, but it is unusual in the sense that it redefines what a super hero movie can be. It’s not the expected story or settings. That part of it is incredibly exciting to me.
We walked through sets and saw different designs for locations and designs for costumes, and I just thought to myself, “Oh my God.” It’s absolutely breathtaking, and the casting is terrific on the movie. And Branagh is a joy to listen to talk story. There was a point during the discussion of the most recent draft of the screenplay where a particular plot point was put up to the group for discussion, “How should we play this one moment within the context of the story?” and Branagh and some in the group had a particular idea of how it should play, while some others felt differently. I was in the opposite camp, but as we discussed the differences, I’m sitting there listening to Branagh act out his version of the scene with gusto and passion and I had to stop him and say, “If you said to me right now, ‘Then Thor kills 100 puppies in an animal shelter’ I’d say it was fantastic.” [Laughter] It’s just magnificent hearing him talking about the story with the great love he has for the material. You don’t see it quite often, but when you see it you’ve got to go with it.
Along with all of this, there is a new update on the project as well. As we know, Natalie Portman recently revealed that her friend and actress Kat Dennings (Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist) had joined her on the cast of Thor, but no one knew who the young budding star would be playing. It’s now been confirmed that Dennings will be playing someone named Darcy, who works with Jane Foster (Portman). As I said in the initial news, Dennings clearly doesn’t seem like an obvious fit for an Asgardian goddess, and that she would likely be one of the mortal sub-characters, so this all makes plenty of sense.
Thor will be released on May 20, 2011.
[Sources: via io9, Variety]
