The three writers behind the screenplay for the upcoming Marvel film THOR are Mark Protosevich (I Am Legend), Zack Stentz and Ashley Miller (both writers for Andromeda and Terminator: Sarah Connor Chronicles). Miller recently spoke with cinefools about her take on the big guy with the hammer and yes, she is actually a fan of the comics! THOR is a comic book film in that it's based on the Marvel conception of the character as super-hero." Ashley Miller told cinefools. "But there are definitely some big fantasy elements working behind that. He is the God of Thunder, after all. It's hard to approach the character without both of those things informing the work."
"Thor's powers are godly, yes. And his zip code is a little different. But at the end of the day, he's a man. In the comics, Odin sends him to Earth because he's not perfect. He's brash, arrogant. Even over-confident. We all know that guy -- some of us have even been that guy. Stan Lee's genius was to give Thor-as-hero an emotional throughline we could all relate to, and knock him down a couple of pegs. So on that level, your question answers itself. The challenge is to dramatize that and make the audience see what the fans have known and believed about the character all along.As for realism, i have to ask you back: what does that mean? If the standard is, does he throw his back out if he hurls the hammer a little too hard... probably not. He's a god. He's incredibly strong. He can fly. He tosses lightning bolts. There's nothing realistic about any of that. But he also bleeds. He struggles. Life kicks him where it hurts the most. Dramatically speaking, the powers and Asgard are gravy. The meat -- and what makes it a Marvel movie -- is the character."
Miller also wants Thor a little dirty and bloody. "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."
When asked if Miller was a fan of Thor she replied "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."
The brutal warrior angle for Thor sounds very interesting and although he has never been in my top ten comic book characters there is an epic and amazing film to be made out of the character and concepts of Thor, and I honestly can't wait.
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