Thor to be gritty and dirty says the scriptwriter

CineFOOLS have a great interview with Ashley Miller. He is the screen writer for Kenneth Branagh's adaption of Thor for Marvel.

Reading it does make me feel even happier about the project. Here are some of the main bits from it.

Are you a fan of Thor?

AM-Would you like me to pull my Simonson run out of its bags and boards? Zack had to take me down with an elephant tranq to stop me from throwing in a scene between Thor and a frog.

Is there any Thor storylines you are inspired by?

AM-So many things. Certainly, Walt Simonson's take on the character greatly informs what we brought to the script although I wouldn't say we went to a specific story from his tenure on the book. We saw part of our job as taking all the many approaches to the character over the years (including the myths) and distilling them down into a form that worked for a two-hour movie. There's a tremendous amount of ground to cover, so inspiration has to come from everywhere.

As a writer what would you like to bring to the characters in the Thor Saga?

AM-Grit. Not in the sense that you'd want to see a generic "dark" take on Thor, but in the sense that you want to feel Thor's rage when he rages. You want to see him fight like hell, and take as much he dishes out -- maybe more. You want to have a visceral reaction to the guy, and what happens to him. You don't want his adventures to be clean and antiseptic. You want to see the dirt, and grime and blood. You want to feel every bone crunching moment of every fight. And when he unleashes the storm, you want to feel like you're seeing the power of a GOD at work.

The best example I can give you is the end of Ultimates 2. When Thor shows up and kicks ass, he shows up and kicks ass. He isn't screwing around. There's a certain brutal, cock-eyed realism to Thor in that moment (and through that book in general) that I really resonate to and want to expand on.

As most people will want to see Asgard does it feature prominently in the script or will it mostly be in our world?

AM-Marvel's official description gives you a pretty good idea of what the divide looks like.

With all the Marvel films converging do you have to write with a bigger story in mind? Will you be involved with any other Marvel comic/film writers? E.g J Michael Stratzynski?

AM-We definitely wrote with the bigger story in mind, or at least the bigger universe. Our script is very firmly rooted in the Marvel film world. We were constantly looking for ways to connect Thor to the other movies and heroes, even if they were simply in passing. Part of grounding Thor in the world is grounding him in the specific, fictional world he inhabits. How many of those references and connections make it to the final product are beyond our control, but they are everywhere.

I'll also tell you the nicest thing about working for Marvel, as a fan. You never have to defend the character to the people who own him. You never have to explain to them why Thor is cool, or what he can do. They are as likely as you are to come up with some awesome bit of obscure continuity and pitch it as a story or character element. It's a very writer friendly place.

It is great to see that a fan of Thor is writing the screenplay. I also like the sound of the fights in that we will see the dirt, grime and blood. If they can make it like that then it should be amazing. Can Chris Hemsworth as Thor pull this off?

How do you feel about the Thor film? How can they tie it into the Iron Man film and other Marvel films? What look do you want Thor to have - classic Marvel or the Ultimate version?

Discuss in the forum or leave a comment below.

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