Thor: Kenneth Branagh

Thor: Kenneth Branagh The stars of Thor hit Sydney for the world premiere of the comic-book blockbuster. BBM’s BEN HARLUM caught up with the legendary actor and director, Kenneth Branagh, on the red carpet to discuss directing this film.

Thor: Kenneth Branagh The story itself lends itself to a lot of Shakespeare; did you have any input into the script?

I was very much involved with the script all the way though, which I thought was important. I always assumed the audience were intelligent so not only could we deliver the spectacle and action, but we could also have more rich and relatable relationships between the central characters. I don’t think that’s uniquely Shakespeare, who also utilised humour; he was so clever in selling an action story by making sure people laughed. He was, however, a good monitor for me; at times my passion was very intense because when you run the universe, the stakes are very high. So I’d say that ‘we both were very passionate about our work, and it seemed to work for him’.

How do you think your background as an actor has shaped your directing style?
I think you become very actor-friendly, trying to figure out the best situations to get the best out of your actors. For example, with a film such as this, you need to work out whether your actors feel comfortable with more or less of the set when working with a green screen. I said to Anthony Hopkins that I’d like to start with his close-ups on day one, and he said that was okay. I’ve discovered that starting with close-ups is the best way to get a great actor, such as Anthony, warmed up quickly. If you act, you end up thinking of those types of things.

With the Avengers coming up, did they have people on set discussing the Avengers with you while filming Thor?
Occasionally they’d ask me about little things because the films are interlinked but I feel as though I made the film as a one-off, not assuming anything. As a viewer, I love how these films are all interweaved and I’ll be the first in line to see the Avengers.

A lot of Shakespeare plays you’ve tackled, and now Thor, have dealt with family conflict and resolution. How do you resolve conflict in real life?

That’s an interesting question. I’m much better than I used to be at being assertive. I’m one of those people who can bottle things up for a long time and when it comes out it’s with ridiculous force, whereas if I said things along the way, things wouldn’t have gotten to code red. Directing’s been good for it because you have to be so honest, checking the weather every day in terms of other people’s moods. Directing has made me listen more and be a little more straightforward with what I want, instead of being a people-pleaser or a neutron bomb about to go off.

Thor is in cinemas now.