On The Decision Not To Include Donald Blake In The Movie: I love the Donald Blake alter ego, and of course, it's not his only alter ego in the comics, but Doctor Donald Blake is often a significant part of the comics. What I would say is, if the audiences decide they want to see more of Thor, then there's a very rich strain of the story that could be mined there. What we do in this movie does not exclude that possibility.
In terms of Donald Blake not being in this movie, when we lined up all the things that we needed to introduce the audience to, the idea of yet one more element of Thor's characters in addition to the world of the gods, the world of space, the world of Jotunheim, the world of all the characters in Odin's family and all of the Earth, to then reduce our amount of screen time with the first introduction of Thor himself felt as though we wouldn't be doing ourselves a favor. Instead, the priority would be to get as much of Thor inside that already complicated world as we could. So it was a decision based on letting an audience get a real sense of Thor the Asgardian, the man of myth. Maybe it would be something down the line, were that to even be a possibility.
On Casting Idris Elba As Heimdall: The world of Marvel Comics and the world of the Norse myths is a world of imagination and fantasy, and that being the case, I think that has license to be as wide-ranging in the imaginative choices employed as the original authors of the myths themselves, and certainly as the authors of the Marvel comics have been. I think the stories of the characters lend themselves to great unusual choices, and sometimes -- I would put Idris Elba in this category -- usual choices. If you want somebody who is the first and last voice you hear on entering and leaving Asgard, and is the first and last person you see on entering and leaving Asgard, then that figure needs to be somebody memorable, magnificent-looking, magnificent-sounding, and you start to narrow the choices down considerably. And if you have the chance of getting as fine an actor as Idris Elba, that's the beginning and end of the conversation inside that imaginative and fantastical universe.
On Jeremy Renner As Hawkeye: I'm not able to divulge anything in great detail, but the time I did spend with him was excellent. He's prepared, smart, very detailed, and what he's going to bring is something extremely interesting. He's an unusually big fan of the comics, and knows the character well. There's likely to be a very, very interesting development from one film to the next with that character.
On How Involved He Is With The Avengers: I spoke to Joss [Whedon] before he came on board, and I've spoken to him since. Of course, I'm not allowed to say too much, otherwise they'd kill me, I'd have to kill you, we'd all be dead, and so on. But what I have read of the "Avengers" material is special. He's really a tremendous talent, Joss. Now having worked so closely with Chris [Hemsworth]and having worked with Jeremy Renner briefly, the idea of the two of them plus Robert [Downey Jr.] is an exciting combination.
Joss came to see our movie several times during production, and the piece of the movie that might be at the end of "Thor" -- that might be at the end of the credits that I can't speak about -- Joss and I worked together a little on that. There's a weird kind of collegiate atmosphere amongst those of us who are directors on this thing. When I went in to do my little 3-D sessions, I'd always see ['Captain America' director Joe Johnston] coming out of his, and we'd always share a few war stories about what was going on. Jon Favreau was kind to me when he was in post-production for "Iron Man 2," and ["Incredible Hulk" director] Louis Leterrier was one of the people who suggested me for the job in the first place. So it does feel like those of us who pass through the Marvel academy are inevitably bonded.
Click HERE to read my review of THOR!
With an all star cast which includes Chris Hemsworth as Thor, Tom Hiddleston as Loki, Anthony Hopkins as Odin, Natalie Portman as Jane Foster, Jeremy Renner as Clint Barton and Samuel L. Jackson as Nick Fury,
Thor is out now in the UK and will be released shortly after in the US on May 6, later this year!
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