Over the years, Marvel has attracted a pretty decent roster of filmmakers to take on their comic franchises with folks like Jon Favreau, Louis Leterrier, Matthew Vaughn, Joe Johnston and more recently Joss Whedon and Shane Black getting behind the camera. However, Marvel is also known for being very…careful with money…and with Kenneth Branagh moving on from the “Thor” franchise they’ve decided to save a few bucks on his replacement.
Brian Kirk, a television veteran who has been behind episodes of “Game Of Thrones” (geek cred!), “Boardwalk Empire” (arty cred!), “Luther” (Idris Elba cred!), “The Tudors” (costume drama cred!) is now in talks to wield the mighty hammer for “Thor 2.” It’s frankly an oddball choice considering his only feature effort to date is the religious drama “Middletown.” But apparently he won the gig for his ability to capably handle large, sprawling casts and certainly, with all the gods flying through “Thor,” that will be a skill any potential helmer will want to have.
So Marvel saves a few a bucks, Kirk gets his breakout shot and it’s win-win for everybody right? Sort of. “Thor 2” still has Don Payne of “My Super Ex-Girlfriend” and “Fantastic Four: Rise of the Silver Surfer” fame writing the screenplay which doesn’t fill us with confidence. Let’s hope that he can retain the tone that made the admittedly uneven, but still enjoyable “Thor” some decent entertainment. Kirk is currently at work on the BBC mini-series “Great Expectations” with Ray Winstone and Gillian Anderson and once he wraps that he’ll head over to the superhero pic. “Thor 2” hits on July 26, 2013. [Variety]