Showing posts with label beginning. Show all posts
Showing posts with label beginning. Show all posts

Tuesday, December 22, 2015

18 Things You Probably Didn"t Know About "Thor"






1. Several infamous Marvel artifacts can be seen in the Asgard weapons vault scene:





The Orb of Agamotto



 



The Eternal Flame



 



the Tablet of Life and Time



 



The Infinity Gauntlet



 



The Casket of Ancient Winters



 




2. At one point, Dr. Selvig mentions a colleague doing work with S.H.I.E.L.D.. He described the colleague as “a pioneer in gamma radiation.” He’s talking about Bruce Banner, whose experiments with gamma radiation gave him the ability to transform into the Hulk.



 




3. There’s also a deleted scene in which Dr. Selvig mentions Hank Pym, also known as Ant-Man.







4. Stan Lee said he wanted to play Odin.







5. Jim Carrey was considered for the role of Loki. He actually played Loki before in The Mask.







6. S.H.I.E.L.D. agents initially think that the Destroyer belongs to Tony Stark. In the comic books, Tony Stark actually does acquire Destroyer armor from Asgard.







7. The Norwegian village seen in the flashback in Thor is the same village seen at the beginning of Captain America: The First Avenger.












Marvel Studios













Marvel Studios






 




8. At one point, Jane lends Thor a shirt that she said belonged to an old boyfriend with a forgotten name tag on it that reads “Donald Blake M.D.”. Dr. Donald Blake is Thor’s alter-ego in the comic books.



Marvel Studios




9. “Puente Antiguo”, the small town in which most of the movie is set, translates to “old bridge”. This is likely a hint at the towns role as a destination for gods using the Bifrost bridge.



Marvel Studios / Via imdb.com




10. In the background of one scene in the small town, you can see a water tower that says “Welcome. Home of the Vikings.”



Marvel Studios / Via imdb.com




11. One billboard for New Mexico tourism seen in the background of one shot featured the slogan “Land of Enchantment – Journey into Mystery”. “Journey into Mystery” was the original Marvel comic book that Thor debuted in.



Marvel Studios / Via imdb.com




12. One of the most respected writers of the “Thor” comics, J. Michael Straczynski, tries to lift Mjolnir in a cameo.



Marvel Studios / Via imdb.com




13. Stan Lee, who created Thor, also makes a cameo as the truck driver who attempts to tow Mjolnir out of the ground.



Marvel Studios / Via imdb.com




14. Yet another Thor writer/artist, Walter Simonson, makes a cameo sitting next to Sif during the banquet scene.



Marvel Studios / Via imdb.com




15. Marvel sent director Kenneth Branagh the complete collection of the Thor comics to prepare him for directing the film.



 




16. Tom Hiddleston couldn’t stand wearing Loki’s helmet, and claimed that he channeled that discomfort into the role.







17. There were actually three physicists from the Science & Entertainment Exchange on staff for the film to provide scientific background. Their suggestions led to Jane Foster’s profession being changed to to a physicist, as well as the use of the term “Einstein-Rosen bridge” to describe the Bifrost.













Kevin Hand


psmag.com







 




18. One scene in the film was actually directed by Joss Whedon. (The post-credits scene, which tied this film to The Avengers.)



Marvel Studios / Via imdb.com




update




This post has been updated to meet our attribution standards.


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Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/awesomer/things-you-probably-didnt-know-about-thor




18 Things You Probably Didn"t Know About "Thor"

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Saturday, January 10, 2015

“Mulaney” Is Not The Next “Seinfeld”

After four years writing for Saturday Night Live, John Mulaney finds his eponymous sitcom on Fox’s fall schedule — but is he ready for primetime?

View this image ›


Mulaney with Nasim Pedrad on FOX’s Mulaney. FOX


John Mulaney is not the new Jerry Seinfeld — but he is ready to face the inevitable comparisons his new Fox sitcom, Mulaney, will draw to NBC’s iconic comedy Seinfeld. Not only do both star stand-up comedians playing versions of themselves and revolve around the daily insanity spurred on by a group of oddball friends dominating his life, but each episode opens with him performing stand-up.


After the show’s first trailer was released, Twitter exploded with 140-character comparisons. “Is Mulaney supposed to be like Seinfeld?” The Hollywood Reporter’s Tim Goodman tweeted. “Mulaney is to Seinfeld as Muppet Babies is to The Muppets,” Pajiba posted. And Time.com wrote a story titled, “8 Ways The Trailer for Mulaney Resembles Seinfeld.”


Mulaney was nonplussed. “I was well aware from the beginning that people would make comparisons,” Mulaney told BuzzFeed while promoting the fall comedy — which he created and executive produces — at the ATX Television Festival. “It would be absurd to say Seinfeld wasn’t an influence on me growing up, and I would be lying if I said I wasn’t a fan. But the most egregious [similarity] is that I also do stand-up on the show.”


He added, “If the audience thinks it’s too similar, that’s what they think, but I don’t think there’s any point in distancing myself; if we’re even a tenth as good as Seinfeld, we’d be lucky.”


That hopeful fraction is one reason why Mulaney had no problem with Kevin Reilly, Fox’s now-ousted chairman of entertainment, saying Mulaney was “Seinfeld for a new generation” at the network’s upfront presentation to advertisers in May. The other reason lies in the purpose of the event.


“That’s a sales presentation,” he said of the yearly gathering of advertisers, where they’re exposed to — in the span of one week — every new show the broadcast networks plan to roll out. “They’re just trying to get people to buy ads so that is a totally acceptable thing to say to sell a show. It’s like saying something is ‘the next Coca-Cola.’ If you watch Shark Tank, you know you have to use whatever you have to sell something to people. Now, when it comes to marketing the show, the billboards are not going to say, ‘We’re as good as Seinfeld.’ I was well aware from the beginning that people would make comparisons, so it’s like we did it before anyone else could do it.”


View this image ›


Mulaney doing stand-up on Mulaney. Fox


Being able to anticipate critical response, both positive and negative, is an essential tool in a stand-up comedian’s arsenal — especially since, much like fronting an eponymous TV show, success or failure will be forever tied exclusively to your name.


“With stand-up, it’s always been my name, so if someone doesn’t like a show I do, it’s on me,” he said of deciding the sitcom would share his surname. “The sentence I’ve been trying to avoid my whole career is: John Mulaney isn’t funny.”


While six years of performing stand-up and four years writing on Saturday Night Live certainly put the 31-year-old on audience’s radars, Mulaney is quick to acknowledge that starring on a network sitcom boasting his name is another thing entirely, putting him in the crosshairs like never before.


“I was a little scared but I wanted to go,” he said, with a restrained giggle, about the decision to leave the Lorne Michaels-produced series after four years. “Lorne would roll his eyes at this, but, in my opinion, SNL is not going away anytime soon. That fact was lost on me until I was creating my own show, which can be taken away at any second. So, leaving a show that’s not going anywhere brings different levels of comfort and anxiety. With SNL, the show isn’t going anywhere, so my anxiety was about how I fit into the show. In L.A. [where Mulaney is produced], the show might be going somewhere so it’s less personal and more communal anxiety.”


And Mulaney knows, all too well, what it would feel like to lose his show because it’s already happened once before. Mulaney was originally created for NBC, but the network opted not to pick the show up to series in May 2013. Calling the experience “obviously disappointing,” Mulaney adds that he was most disheartened to not continue working with the cast of “incredible actors” he’d assembled: Martin Short, Elliot Gould, Nasim Pedrad, Zack Pearlman, and Seaton Smith.


View this image ›


The cast of Mulaney, from left to right: Elliot Gould, Zack Pearlman, Nasim Pedrad, John Mulaney, Martin Short, and Seaton Smith. Fox


Mulaney, along with Lorne Michaels (who is an executive producer), refused to send the series to the pilot graveyard in the sky and took a slightly re-worked version to Fox, where it was picked up for six episodes in October 2013. When asked if he thought Fox responded more positively to the series because of NBC’s tweaks or simply because they “got” what he was attempting to do, Mulaney remarked that it was a combination of the two.


“There were some tweaks, but Fox was interested in a pure comedy like this,” he said, before explaining what he’s come to understand about the pilot process in general. “It’s a weird thing to take a gamble on. They’re placing such big bets — even financially — that, if I’m to step outside and look at it objectively, passing on a show called Mulaney is not that crazy. So I have respect for the chances they have to take.”


And Fox is also taking a chance with Mulaney’s timeslot, scheduling it to air on Sunday nights, after The Simpsons, critical darling Brooklyn Nine-Nine, and the still-dominant Family Guy. But Mulaney can’t focus on that potentially risky timeslot because, despite having a head start thanks to an early series order, every episode brings with it a new set of problems, turning his beloved creation into an all-consuming behemoth.


“At home we talk about it like it’s a constant hurricane,” he said with a laugh, masking an undeniable hint of understandable frustration. “It’s a lot of decisions to make. I think I learned to just make decisions and some of them are totally going to be wrong, but no one’s keeping score day to day with a gun to your head. Also, nothing will get done if I don’t just start making decisions. It’s the most high-pressure thing I’ve ever done, but I also have to be more cavalier than I’ve ever been before, so, it’s become such an all-encompassing presence in my life. But that’s the way it should be.”


Mulaney premieres this fall on Fox.


Video available at: http://youtube.com/watch?v=40_cy4Dz2YA.

Read more: http://buzzfeed.com/jarettwieselman/mulaney-is-not-the-next-seinfeld


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“Mulaney” Is Not The Next “Seinfeld”