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Taika Waititi “forgot” that Natalie Portman was in Star Wars

By Ashley Hurst

New Zealand director and actor Taika Waititi arrives for the 92nd Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 9, 2020. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images)
New Zealand director and actor Taika Waititi arrives for the 92nd Oscars at the Dolby Theatre in Hollywood, California on February 9, 2020. (Photo by VALERIE MACON / AFP) (Photo by VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images) /
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Whether you’re a fan or not, there’s no denying that Taika Waititi is a master of reinventing stories. He took the reins of the flagging Thor series and created Thor: Ragnarok; one of the most popular movies in the MCU. The next movie franchise he seeks to rejuvenate is Star Wars. And he’s already come under fire from fans after saying he “forgot” that Natalie Portman was in the movies.

Waititi recently worked alongside Portman in Thor: Love & Thunder, where she makes her triumphant return to the MCU as the Mighty Thor. He clearly likes working with her, because he tried asking her if she was interested in joining the cast of his Star Wars movie…only to realize that she’s already played a key role in them.

“Natalie said to me, ‘What do you do next?’ And I said, ‘I’m trying to work on a Star Wars thing. Have you ever wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?’ She said, ‘I’ve been in Star Wars movies.’ I forgot about those ones,” Waititi told Rolling Stone. Portman portrayed Padmé Amidala in the prequel movies.

His comment has received a bit of backlash from Star Wars fans on Twitter. “Not a great start for someone directing a Star Wars movie,” one user wrote. “Why do they keep giving Star Wars movies to directors who aren’t that knowledgeable about Star Wars in the first place?” chimed in another.

Taika Waititi doesn’t have time to get caught up with Star Wars

We don’t have a release window for Waititi’s Star Wars movie yet. The director is very aware that Star Wars fans can be hard to please. The lore of the saga stretches far and wide, so it’s nigh impossible for him to catch up with everything:

"But I just feel like for me, I’m never gonna please the fans. You know, I don’t want to mess with something that’s so treasured. Also, you feel like you’ve got to do a lot of research… and I don’t have any time. [Laughs] I mean, there’s thousands of books that have been written, these volumes of books about Star Wars with all those characters. I just don’t have time to get through them."

There was already a lot of pressure on him to deliver, and now there’s even more. He’s done it over at Marvel — to resounding success — but could Star Wars be one step too far?

Taikia Waititi’s latest movie, Thor: Love & Thunder is now in theaters.

Next. Our SPOILER-FREE impressions of Thor: Love and Thunder. dark

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