The website Bleeding Cool first broke the story that Brian Blessed is set to join Chris Hemsworth and Tom Hiddleston in the cast of Marvel's Asgardian epic. This would be his fifth time working with Branagh, for whom he had previously appeared in the Shakespeare adaptations Henry V, Much Ado About Nothing, Hamlet, and As You Like It.

Once a respected actor (his work as Augustus in I, Claudius is particularly good), Brian Blessed is now better known for just being Brian Blessed, a wonderfully insane, larger-than-life personality distinguished by his adventures (he's tried to climb Mount Everest three times) and shouting his way through he every role he now plays. He's also no stranger to science fiction, having appeared in Space: 1999, Survivors, Blake's 7, Doctor Who, and Star Wars: The Phantom Menace, although his most iconic science fiction role - for better or worse - has to be as Prince Vultan in Flash Gordon. Feast your eyes and ears on this particular brand of Brian Blessed glory:

To me though, Brian Blessed will always be King Richard IV in the original Black Adder. That role actually might be a decent template for Odin, considering Richard was also the all-powerful father of a dashing, heroic son and his dastardly, scheming brother. Also, I'd very much be in favor of the King of Asgard randomly eating horse legs during scenes:

It's hard to know whether Brian Blessed can really turn in what you or I might consider a "good" performance - particularly when directed by Kenneth Branagh, himself known for over-the-top tendencies - but casting him makes one thing abundantly clear: there is absolutely no chance Thor is going to be boring.

[Bleeding Cool]

Khoury talked to the true stars of the movie - amongst them, Topol, Brian Blessed and Queen's Brian May, who explained how the classic theme music was created:

So for the title track I wanted to portray the cartoon-like quality that I saw in it… but the ‘soaring guitars’ were just the normal vocabulary of my dreams!

Goddammit, I really want to dream like Brian May now. Blessed is just as helpful in the amazing quote department:

And it [the set] was full of dwarfs and all kinds of people. I love dwarfs. They’re the happiest people in the world. And I loved to chase them around the set and stuff like that. So the whole thing was colossal fun.

Even Topol offers up this helpful recollection:

Yeah, it was a fun movie to do it. And the main thing, I quit smoking on that film. [laughs]

Despite the somewhat scattered nostalgia of those involved, the article is actually remarkably fun and full of information about the movie and just why we never saw a Flash 2. It's still not too late, of course...

Hail Flash Gordon! [Comic Book Resources]