![]() ![]() Back home, there’s a reference to the Golden Age of television. Mainly because of the way the viewing patterns of watching movies have gone, it seems like a lot of risk-taking and a lot of imagination is regenerating in television, in a way that I think makes for a pretty exciting period. Ken: Certainly, I’ve been working here for a while now, and I’ve been watching tremendous American television. Can you talk a little bit about that, and your reasons in doing it? You could arguably be called the Tom Hanks of the U.K., since you do all these different things and you’re as big as they have over there, and yet here you are doing a TV show. With that being the case, we felt as though there was some license to move things around, and try to be Mankellian in spirit. It’s that kernel of the moral debate inside the book, with the investigation and the political engagement with some social issues in Sweden and around the world that are the center of it. So, for instance, although the plot is gripping and very fascinating, essentially it’s the moral dynamic and the moral debate inside Wallander and that police station, about whether there is any institutional racism. Without speaking for him, I believe Henning Mankell has the preoccupation with the thematic materials. But, it is done with an overview of all 10 novels now. So, you might find in the context of one particular novel, should you read it, that some sequences happen out of time, if you like, or that a particular incident is borrowed from another novel. Ken: They are based on novels, but it’s true to say the writer, Rick Cottan, and the other writers involved in this series have, in relation to the arc of the character that we have developed across the first three films, changed some things around, with Henning Mankell’s blessing, doing what they think is the right way to present some of the episodes. Are the upcoming shows to be based on specific novels, or are you talking the character as a jumping-off point and doing original stories? Wallander is generally based on a series of novels. When you looked at the story of Thor, did it seem a little bit Shakespearean to you because of the way that family is? The seasons and the weather are extreme, and the possibility for looking inward into the interior life is great. It’s a big country with small population. ![]() There’s something about coming from those northern lands. ![]() I don’t think that the Viking has the same issues with introspection as Kurt Wallander. Frankly, Kurt Wallander could occasionally do with a hammer and a cape. Ken: Both are Scandinavian and both have family problems. Question: What does Kurt Wallander have in common with Thor? Check out what he had to say after the jump: Prior to the panel for Wallander at Wednesday’s PBS portion of the Television Critics Association Press Tour, it was announced by the network that, although Kenneth Branagh was taking time out to answer some press questions in support of the show, he would not be able to stay after the presentation for any follow-ups, as he is currently very busy prepping for a studio screening tonight of his latest directorial effort, the epic Marvel Comics feature film Thor, which hits theaters on May 20, 2011. ![]()
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