Kenneth Branagh Tagged Articles at Cinematical

Asgard has just added another brilliant actor to their semi-immortal ranks. According to The Hollywood Reporter, Idris Elba has joined the cast of Thor as Heimdall, guardian of the Bifrost Bridge. He's the man you have to pass if you hope to start some stuff in Asgard, and as he's all-seeing and all-knowing, good luck trying to kick his butt.

Elba's casting is undoubtedly going to cause a bit of a stir, as the Heimdall of the Marvel comics is a redhaired Caucasian. In the original Nordic myths, he was even called "the whitest of the gods" which seems like a thousand tasteless jokes in the making. (For the record, "whitest" refers to the light he emanated, not his skin color.) I imagine a lot of people are going to make those jokes, complain about things being PC, and just be very unpleasant.

But you know what? The Asgardians are gods. They can be any color they want, and should be. Marvel's Thor is also distinctly different than the original Norse myths, and I think a diverse cast is a fantastic and appropriate idea. Plus, this is Idris Elba. He's the kind of badass you want on that Bifrost Bridge, guarding the city gates, and having throwdowns with Thor. (He's always trying to prevent everyone's favorite blonde from going in or out of Asgard.) Kudos to Kenneth Branagh for recognizing that, and for creating an Ultimate Heimdall in the course of pre-production.

Tethered to reality by only a slender thread, Pirate Radio quickly cuts loose and floats off into its own imaginary layer of the Earth's atmosphere, where only good-hearted, pleasant-thinking, die-hard romantics can survive. Welcome home, Richard Curtis, where have you been?

Writer/director Curtis rose to fame on the basis of his screenplay for Four Weddings and a Funeral, featuring an ensemble of quirky yet appealing men and women chasing love and happiness, followed, notably, by his script for Notting Hill, but he's been writing off-kilter comedy sketches and episodic television for many years. Pirate Radio proves that his gift for writing witty one-liners and creating funny situations remains intact. His skills as a film director and shaper of material are a little more fuzzy and undefined, however.

As with Love, Actually, his previous directorial effort, Pirate Radio (AKA The Boat That Rocked) is filled with episodes that feel randomly assembled, knit together by proximity and happenstance more than narrative necessity. For all the laughter and positive feelings that Pirate Radio generates, it's a lightweight treatment of a potentially heavyweight subject.

There's big news from Asgard tonight! According to The Hollywood Reporter, the legendary Sir Anthony Hopkins has joined the cast of Thor. This isn't one of these tightly kept casting announcements either, as THR reports that he and no one else is playing Odin. (Incidentally, there's no mention of Robert DeNiro and Jude Law among the confirmed cast members, so I'm guessing that was just a fever dream of a rumor.)

If you're not up on your Thor or Nordic mythology, Odin is the father of Thor and the ruler of Asgard. He's your typical white-bearded god sort, fond of wine, women, and wisdom. He's not immortal (none of the gods of Asgard are), but ages slowly, and possesses amazing powers of strength and wisdom. He famously sacrifices his eye for the foresight to prevent Ragnarok, a sadly futile act, but you can't blame a god for trying.

While a lot of people were hoping that the Brian Blessed would be Odin (and my own money was on the recently signed Stellan Skarsgard), you can't really get much better than Sir Hopkins. He'll add just the right amount of gravitas, but he's an actor who can still have fun in a role. I can't wait to see him go up against Loki, and watching him smack down Thor for his arrogance is going to be pure theater. Cheers, Kenneth Branagh!

The Thor rumors are flying fast and furious right now, which means we're due for a few big official confirmations soon. After German whispers flew that Jude Law and Robert DeNiro were part of the cast (again, not confirmed), Movieline is reporting that Dominic Cooper might be joining Thor as part of the Warriors Three.

The Warrior's Three are gods of Asgard, and frequent companions of Thor. They're not based in Nordic mythology like Thor, but drawn purely from the fellows you'd meet in medieval literature or old Hollywood's version of the Dark Ages. You have Fandral, the noble and dashing ladies man , Hogun the grim and fierce, and Volstagg the valiant and cheerful. They go on sturdy, manly adventures together against villains big and small, and undoubtedly do a lot of feasting, drinking, and wenching afterward. They're more than just thinly drawn supporting characters, and if they get a lot of screen time in the movie, they'll be a welcome balance to Thor's bombastic ways.

Cooper let slip that he was "approached" for the part of Fandral, though he stressed that nothing was signed and official. He strikes me as a little young for Fandral (he's a god, but he's seen and done some stuff), and not nearly dashing enough. But hey, one girl's "He seems nice" is another's suave and swashbuckling, so your opinion may very. He's certainly a good actor, which means more in the long run, and is such a reassuring glimpse into how seriously Kenneth Branagh is taking Thor.

The casting twists and turns of the Marvel Universe are nearly as interesting as the movies themselves -- ok, not quite, but you have to let me run with a little hyperbole. The casting for Kenneth Branagh's Thor has been top notch so far, but the latest casting rumors might just take the film into the realm of unbelievable. According to Ain't It Cool News, German actor Matthias Schweighöfer revealed in German GQ that not only was he up for a role in Thor, but that Jude Law and Robert DeNiro were part of the cast.

Obviously, this is coming from a magazine and through a bit of translation, so we'll have to see if its officially confirmed. But running on the big assumption that this is a done deal, Thor has managed to land the biggest and most illustrious cast of Marvel yet -- and after Iron Man 1 and 2, that's saying a lot.

But who on earth could they be playing? I had Stellan Skarsgard pegged as Odin, but could it actually be DeNiro? Law actually fits the profile of a few Asgardians. I could easily see him as Balder, half brother of Thor. As for Schweighofer, there's a dozen Asgardians I could see him as. I can't wait to see the pieces come together on this intruging rumor.

The week has ended without Thor fans finding out who Stellan Skarsgard is playing, but we have a hint as to who else might be appearing in Kenneth Branagh's film. SpoilerTV, who have stumbled on many a casting hint lately, have posted an alleged casting call for "Warriors." The requirements are stern, as befits residents and foes of Asgard: "A fearless warrior race, where size, strength and ferocity define a member's rank in both the social and military hierarchy. Warriors born in this society face the harshest ecological conditions imaginable and thrive in environments where lesser creatures, including humans, quickly perishes. Theirs is a world created to cull weakness from the universe to ensure their supreme sovereignty spreads across the stars. MUST BE 6'2 OR TALLER sptv050769, NO BODYBUILDER TYPES. SAG ROLE BUT NO LINES. MUST BE COMFORTABLE WEARING PROSTHETICS."

At the word "Warriors" my brain stopped, and I thought it was a casting call for the Warriors Three. But those three badasses are quite distinct personalities, and none of them would need prosthetics other than the extremely large Volstagg. It's clearly not them.

The key phrase here would appear to be "their supreme sovereignty spreads across the stars." Is this a casting call for the Skrulls? You can't really get any more militaristic and conquest driven than these guys, and one definitely needs prosthetics to pull them off. But what the heck would Skrulls be doing in Thor? Even Loki hasn't had much to do with those creeps until recently. The obvious answer would be to have them come in and set up The Avengers, but with two villains and two love interests, you'd think there was enough crazy to go around. Anyone out there have a better guess as to who our prosthetic-heavy warriors might be?

[via Superhero Hype]

We're entering into a frustrating trend with Thor news now. Excellent actors continue to sign on, but we have no idea who they are playing, which certainly keeps things interesting, but hurts when it comes to the geek discussions we could be having. The latest to reportedly join the cast is a Skarsgard, but not the one who you might expect.. According to Swedish news site Ystands Allehanda, Stellan Skarsgard has joined the cast of Thor in an unspecified role.

As you Thor fans undoubtedly remember, Stellan's son Alexander was in the running to play Thor. Skarsgard confirmed that he was so close as to have tried on the costume, and was one of the last contenders cut before Kenneth Branagh chose Chris Hemsworth. (Every episode of True Blood I see, I think Hemsworth has to be something really special if they cut Skarsgard, who would have been my pick.) If the elder Skarsgard is indeed part of the cast, I would like to be a fly on the wall for that family phone call.

Read the rest over at SciFi Squad

The gods of Asgard (or Marvel, if you prefer) have been largely deaf to the prayers of mere mortals, and refusing to reveal any deep dark secrets about Kenneth Branagh's Thor. But tonight, The Hollywood Reporter brings us some casting news that'll wind up the fans of the Thunder God. Colm Feore and Jaimie Alexander have signed on to join Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, and Natalie Portman.

The most exciting part of this news for me is Alexander, who gets to play the fierce warrior-goddess Sif. She was once a lass with golden hair (just like her "real" Norse counterpart) but Loki was jealous of her hair color, stole it, and replaced it with enchanted troll hair. Jerk. But Sif shrugged it off, picked up a big sword, and became one of the toughest warriors of Asgard. She also became Thor's lover, and while she accompanies other male Asgardians into battle, she also sticks by her Thunder Man. If you're wondering how he could leave such a kick-ass girl for a mortal like Jane Foster (who will be played by Portman), don't think too badly of Thor. Once he went mortal as Donald Blake, he became confused and convinced Jane was the reincarnation of Sif. Reportedly, Donald Blake isn't in the Thor movie, so perhaps they're just going with a standard love triangle, and Thor will have to chose between his mortal and (relatively) immortal girlfriends.

Feore's role is being kept a secret, and Marvel will only say that he's playing a villain. I'm going to just take a wild guess that he's going to play Mephisto, and that's just because of Sif and her love connection. But perhaps he's playing Surtur so they have someone to help Loki bring around Ragnarok. Your guess is as good as mine and since THR is reporting that not even the actors have seen the script, guesses are all we have to go on.

A few weeks ago at ComicCon, Marvel Studios' president Kevin Feige and Jon Favreau gave some hints as to what we could expect from the movie Marvel universe. Now, I bet you want to hear from a director who gets a little left out in all this crossover talk: Louis Leterrier.

Leterrier sat down with the LA Times and talks all about what it's like to play in the onscreen Marvel universe. Turns out, he was once in talks to direct Thor but declined (he's just not a fan of early Thor), and would love to have helmed Iron Man or Captain America. "But, c'mon, a Frenchman doing Captain America? They would burn my passport." But Leterrier has seen the designs for Joe Johnston's Cap, and what he describes is pretty intriguing. "I have seen some of the design work they're doing for Captain America and it looks amazing. It's a period piece and it's like Raiders of the Lost Ark and with more gadgets ... It's Raiders meets Rocketeer and Saving Private Ryan. It's going to be so cool."