Chadwick Boseman as Drax. Alexander Skarsgård as Thor. John Krasinski as Captain America. An exclusive book excerpt dives into the formative days of the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
back to 2011. Even on that timetable, production was rushed. Ashley Edward Miller and Zack Stentz, who had been a writing team on the sci-fi TV shows, got a call from their agent. As Miller told the story, “Marvel was looking for television writers because they were fast. Hopefully, they were a team because that was even faster. And hopefully, they knew science fiction and comic books, and hopefully hopefully hopefully, they knew Thor.” Miller told Stentz, “I think we check off all the boxes.
Soon the writers were in a meeting at the Marvel Studios HQ, discussing their take on the thunder god in front of a full room, including one guy they didn’t know, sporting a scraggly beard and wearing a T-shirt, jeans, and Chuck Taylor sneakers. But when he opened his mouth and spoke in a resonant, well-modulated British accent, the screenwriters realized it was Branagh.
While Miller and Stentz labored over the script, Branagh worked with Marvel casting director Sarah Halley Finn. Stentz recalled seeing pretty much every notable Hollywood actress between the ages of twenty-five and thirty as they came by the production office to read for the role of Jane Foster, earthbound scientist and Thor’s love interest. He described Branagh’s reaction immediately following a meeting with Natalie Portman. “He was very taken with her,” Stentz said.
Branagh was a draw for top-flight performers. Portman said she signed on because she figured that Branagh doingwas sure to be “super weird.” Anthony Hopkins joined the cast, playing the All-Father Odin, because he was a fan of Branagh’s theatrical work. But finding the right man for the title role proved more challenging. Finn said, “We were casting Cap and Thor in an overlapping period, and both of them seemed to be very risky.”By Marvel Entertainment/PictureLux / The Hollywood Archive / Alamy.
The casting of Downey set the terms for the Marvel audition process: in nearly all cases, the studio valued screen tests over reputation. When casting a role, Finn would typically bring in top choices for an audition with a small camera crew, the core Marvel Studios producers, and the movie’s director. The first round was the reading of a scene , either in person or, if the actor wasn’t in Los Angeles, on tape.