Kenneth Branagh Reflects on the Origins of the ‘Thor’ Franchise
Long before Thor was transformed into Marvel’s comic relief character, Kenneth Branagh introduced Chris Hemsworth’s God of Thunder as something of a Shakespearean hero.
Between 2011’s Thor and its sequel Thor: The Dark World, Branagh established the grandeur of Asgard, positioned Thor, Loki, and Odin as royal figures, and infused the story with the kind of drama and intrigue fitting of kings.
15 years after the epic saga began, Kenneth Branagh sat down with Business Insider to reflect on the franchise’s early days.
Photo: Marvel
“The basic declaration was that the story and the characters would take themselves seriously; I would not take myself seriously; that’s what was established,” Branagh recalled.
Finding the Leads
Before creating the world of Thor, Branagh and Marvel head Kevin Feige had to find the right actors to play the leads.
Photo: Marvel Studios
When casting Thor, the team wanted a new actor who could combine freshness with physical presence. That was Hemsworth.
Loki, on the other hand, needed to balance “razor wit” and passion. Tom Hiddleston fit the bill.
Source: Marvel Studios
“I remember when we cast Chris and Tom; it was a Saturday morning at Raleigh Studios in Manhattan Beach. Kevin Feige walked around the central table in this little room that he and I were in,” Branagh explained.
Photo: Marvel Studios
“He must have gone around it 10,000 steps, muttering sometimes to me, and sometimes as if I wasn’t there; he was sort of hallucinating, saying, ‘This is the most important decision we will ever make.’ It was clear it had taken a long time to get to this moment, and now we really needed to be certain. It was like talking someone off the ledge. My job that morning was just to say, ‘No, it’s Chris, and it’s Tom.'”
Drawing on the Literary Canon
When setting the tone for his Thor films, Branagh drew inspiration from classic literature.
Photo: Marvel Studios
He even had Hemsworth memorize the St. Crispin’s Day monologue from Henry V.
“We did. We were always going into what you would call the underneath of the character, so we knew that at various times, he needed to feel as though he was going to inspire people to follow him,” he recalled.
Photo: Polygon
“So, yes. We did do some work on that. We talked about The Odyssey, we talked about all the stories that have the trials and tribulations of young men on the road to acquiring wisdom through adventures.”
Changing Tone
While the tone of the Thor franchise shifted drastically when Branagh handed the reins to Taika Waititi, the director had nothing but good things to say about Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder.
Source: Marvel Studios
“Amazing films. I mean that. I watched them with a mix of tremendous pride and amazement at the many ways such stories can go. And I think it’s a tribute to what Kevin saw in the potential for a character and a world,” he reflected.
“To see how elastic it’s been in encompassing a different kind of adventure, different kind of humor, different drive to the narrative, it’s been an absolute fascination on how that’s developed.”
Photo: Variety
