“The issue of tone was crucial, because in the ’60s run of comics it does get pretty camp. So the trick was finding a way to make a different kind of superhero - a god - compelling and arresting and not make him too flamboyant,” says the former Shakespearean wunderkind.

“The script is an epic adventure with, at the centre, human dynamics. I looked at the relationships and saw brothers, mother, father and sons: the tight royal circle. When you get down to it, this is pure Shakespeare: it’s a drama about familial problems concerning thse who possess great power.”

“When I came along there had been several strands of development. One kept the movie entirely in the Viking era, and one was more fantastical. I wanted to do something that possibly touched on both. What appealed to me from the myths and comics was a sort of Prodigal Son story - of exile and return. That and the enjoyment of seeing a fish out of water. The notion of Asgardians coming to modern-day Earth was particularly important to me. I actually, coming from the direction of period drama, was the one most resistant to setting it entirely in a historical context.”