Airlock Alpha had a chance to speak with writer Ashley Miller on their Alpha Waves Radio podcast and in their 35-minute interview, they touched on the subject of Thor and the issues of adapting such a comic book character to the big screen.
Ashley Miller and his writing partner Zack Stentz worked together on 2003′s Agent Cody Banks and since then, they’ve written for the sci-fi shows Andromeda, Terminator: The Sarah Connor Chronicles and most recently, a pair of episodes for Fringe. Now, making his mark with the job of penning the screenplay for Marvel Studios’ Thor alongside co-writers Mark Protosevich and his writing partner Zack Stentz, Miller and team have a major task at hand at bringing a relatively unknown character into the limelight and making him work for mainstream audiences.
Like many comic book characters who’ve existed for a lengthy period of time, Thor has multiple incarnations, styles and looks and there are fans of each. With that in mind, it may be an impossible task to please everyone and their expectations when it comes to bringing the Mighty God of Thunder from the books to the film world.
For those cautiously waiting to see if their exact image of Thor is brought forth in the movie, we all need to except that changes are required to fit the character and his histories into a single full-length origins film. So, what can we expect from the character created by Jack Kirby, Larry Lieber and Stan Lee?
“It’s about as close as you can reasonably expect it to be… Obviously, you have to make some adjustments, and you have to compress some things simply for the sake of being able to get a lot of information out and being able to create a believable fantasy world that intersects with ours.”
“Look at ‘Batman Begins’ for example… It does actually play fast and loose with the history of the character, but at the same time, it brings in real cool elements from different intrepretations of the character and puts them all together in cool ways.”
Miller explains that while the film may not follow one specific comic book line for the character, he promises that he will certainly be “100 percent recognizable” to the fans. With that in mind, there will no doubt be some criticism from some of the hardcore fans, but that comes with the job and continues to happen even with the best of the genre. Miller understands and accepts this, and really, you need to for such a high profile gig as this.
“I want people who love the character as much as I do to love this character in this movie, and I want people who have never been exposed to this character to love him, too, and understand why I love him… And that’s all that matters.”
While Miller doesn’t bring a ton of writing experience on films with him, I am confident that director Kenneth Branagh and Marvel Studios have the correct writing team in place to create a great story true to the character and the franchise.
Thor is directed by Kenneth Branagh and stars Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Thor’s half-brother/nemesis, Loki, Natalie Portman as Thor’s human love interest, Jane Foster, Anthony Hopkins as Thor’s father, Odin, Stellan Skarsgård, Colm Feore, Jamie Alexander as Asgardian warrior/love interest, Sif and Idris Alba as the guardian Heimdall.
Thor began shooting Monday, so let us hope for some behind-the-scenes shots of the beautiful sets and costumes of Asgard soon!
What aspects of Thor’s histories and incarnations would you like to see included in the film?
Thor takes over Spider-Man 4′s release date of May 5, 2011.
Source: Airlock Alpha
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“It’s about as close as you can reasonably expect it to be… Obviously, you have to make some adjustments, and you have to compress some things simply for the sake of being able to get a lot of information out and being able to create a believable fantasy world that intersects with ours.”
What obvious adjustments do you need to make? Compress stuff? Sure. Adjust stuff? I would love to have an example of what needs to be adjusted.
Hopefully we will find out how they are going to deal with the alter ego issue soon.
Cannot wait for this movie. Hopefully some set and or shots soon.
(Poster formerly known as INK)
I hope thay have a scene like this:
This scene would actually be in the end credits of Iron Man 2.
Would be exact same scene location as the clip at end credits of Iron Man 1 with Fury.
Late at night Tony Stark walks to his bar in his dimly lit living room and pours himself a wisky.
Stark – “We really need to stop seeing eachother like this”
-Pan shot of living room, Fury standing in shadows by window wall, dark outside pouring rain.
Fury – “You need a better alarm system”
Stark – “I need unexpected guests to use my front door”
Fury – “About that Avengers project”
Stark – “what about it”
-Pan shot to Fury. Lightning thunders outside window. Light strobe effect showing Thor in full regalia holding his hammer.
-shot of Stark's face with eyes wide open
-shot back to Fury with another lightning strike, strobe effect showing Thor again.
Stark – “So much for lightning not striking twice in the same spot…”
Last line can be omitted, not sold on it, but the rest would make me jizz…
I want Thor in full blown Asgardian/Nordic/Comic book armor during scenes when hes home/Asgard, and then after hes banished and earthbound, they can throw him in whatever mass media digestible compromise outfit they have cooked up. But as long as at least a few scenes have him in something very similar to his comic book outfits, I'll be thrilled.
this movie sounds like comic book movie of the year! (in 2011) :p
im really digging the whole comment system! way to go vic!:D
Thor sounds awesome right? What a letdown it could be though if they
don't get it right. Here's to hoping it's a hit!
On Wednesday, January 13, 2010, Disqus
You can change your name back to 'INK' if you want. Just go to your disqus page and type it into the display name field. That is what I did.
Thor's relationships with his father Odin, as well as Loki, and Earth, and his alter ego Donald Blake, and both his love intersts Jane Foster and Sif, have all always been kind of muddled. I'm sure that is part of what's being looked at as far as what has to be changed a bit. Thor's own origin as told by Stan Lee and Jack Kirby is also probably going to be completely different in the movie. I mean, there were men from Saturn in the original origin story.
I like the Ultimate incarnation. The modern Thor is pretty good too. Just have to find a way to blend them together…
We've been hearing about Thor's “brother” Loki, haven't we? Maybe that's one of the changes they made, making them actual siblings.
Is there a series if comic book whit a younger Thor ? All have read was whit a mid 30 looking Thor. For that I have a hard time to imagine Chris Hemsworth in the role, seam to young for me (but still an excellent actor).
Okay, I apologize for my ignorance once again, but could someone describe the most important aspects of Thor's character? Does his story take place in modern times? I get a big “mythology” vibe from pictures I've seen and the name.
Sorry haha. I'm a big superhero fan, but not an avid comics reader. I'm really only extensively familiar with Spider-Man and Batman.
All good points Phil however I hope this is a stepping stone movie and maybe they wont cram that much into it yet…
Check Hemsworth out in A Perfect Getaway. It's a smaller role, but he's huge and bad-ass and doesn't at all look too young there.
I'm curious as to how he will speak myself – What accent and phrases he will use, etc.
When I heard they were making a Thor movie it was easily my most anticipated marvel film. Then they did the casting and I was so let down by the casting of Thor because it was such a bad choice that I moved down my excitement list. Then I read this and the disappointment grows. I expected changes it always happens nothing new, but this sounds like damage control already.
Thor takes place in Modern time yes. He travels back and force between Midgar (earth) and Asgard.
Thor takes place in Modern time yes. He travels back and force between Midgar (earth) and Asgard.