Thor director Taika Waititi originally had “no interest” in making a Marvel movie

After taking the reins of the MCU’s Thor series with Thor: Ragnarok following the mammoth disappointment of 2013’s The Dark World, Taika Waititi reinvented the God of Thunder, delivering a gloriously comedic, chaotic outer space adventure. Last year, he released the follow-up Thor: Love and Thunder, which failed to captivate audiences in the same way. Even so, Waititi’s name is now synonymous with Marvel movies, which is quite funny since he never really wanted to make one.

Appearing on the SmartLess podcast, Waititi explained that making a Marvel movie was never his biggest goal. Instead, he seized the opportunity because he needed some of that sweet Disney money.

“You know what? I had no interest in doing one of those films. It wasn’t on my plan for my career as an auteur,” he revealed. “But I was poor and I’d just had a second child, and I thought, ‘You know what, this would be a great opportunity to feed these children.'”

Growing up, Waititi was never a big fan of Thor’s comic runs. “And ‘Thor,’ let’s face it — it was probably the least popular franchise. I never read ‘Thor’ comics as a kid. That was the comic I’d pick up and be like ‘Ugh,'” he said. I mean yeah, he’s certainly no Spider-Man, that’s for sure.

Waititi was actually shocked that Marvel Studios gave him the reins for the Thor threequel. “I think there was no place left for them to go with that,” he said, “I thought, ‘Well, they’ve called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel.”

Little did the Marvel executives know that Ragnarok would become one of the most popular Marvel movies to date, grossing over $850 million at the box office. The decision to hire him was instantly vindicated.

Taika Waititi wants to capture the magic of the original trilogy in his new Star Wars film

Thanks to his work in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and beyond, Waititi has since landed one of the biggest gigs in pop culture: he will direct his very own Star Wars movie, and he’s taking the responsibility very seriously. Given the mixed reception of recent Star Wars movies, he wants to hit the ground running the same way he did with Thor, but also doesn’t want to rush things.

“Yeah, I’ve been developing that for a few years,” he said during an appearance on The Kelly Clarkson Show. “But, I think, with any film, but that one in particular, it’s something I’d really like to get that one right. So I don’t wanna rush it. It’s just going to bobble along on the side. It’s exciting.”

"I want to capture that joy and the entertainment of those early ones. The Empire Strikes Back and The Return of the Jedi. Yeah, so I’m trying to figure that out… It’ll happen!"

Waititi’s upcoming Star Wars movie does not have a release date yet. Clearly, it’s still in early days of development. Watch this space!

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