We Happy Few: Branagh to Direct Thor?

Kenneth Branagh, ready to bring the hammer down on Thor.

Variety reports that actor-director Kenneth Branagh is in talks to direct Thor, the next Marvel Comics character to hit the big screen. Marvel Studios has the film set for a 2010 release date.

Mark Protosevich is writing a screenplay about Donald Blake, a partially disabled medical student who discovers he is the human embodiment of the hammer-wielding Norse god, Thor. No word on casting yet.

Branagh would certainly seem like a surprise choice, but may not be as much as you would think. The Variety article points out that other recent successful comic book adaptations have been directed by people who come from small, art house backgrounds–Christopher Nolan with Batman and Jon Favreau with Iron Man–not directors with heavy big- popcorn-action film cred. Branagh at least has one action film–his debut, Henry V, has some good-sized battle sequences. By the way, if you haven’t seen that one, please do. Even if you don’t like Shakespeare, you’ll still like this movie–it’s easy to follow even for people who don’t know the play, and it’s fun. That’s always been Branagh’s best quality as both an actor and a director–you always get the sense that he’s having a lot of fun with whatever he’s doing. That may be just what Marvel is looking for.

Branagh’s currently onstage in London in Ivanov and will be in Richard Curtis’s upcoming The Boat That Rocked and–oh my–the infamous Valkyrie.