"When I came in, a lot of fans were like 'Who the f**k is this guy? He's going to ruin everything!'"
When Kenneth Branagh was announced as the director for the first Thor movie, it made sense, because the character had quite the Shakespearean vibe, and Branagh is basically the go-to guy for that stuff.
When Alan Taylor was announced as the director for Thor: The Dark World, again it made sense, because he had directed some of the biggest episodes of Game Of Thrones, and that mix of medieval and fantasy was right up Thor's alley.
However, when Taika Waititi was announced as the director for Thor: Ragnarok, it took folks by surprise. He had previously only directed mico-budgeted (but much-loved) indie comedies like What We Do In The Shadows and Hunt For The Wilderpeople. This was the guy Marvel and Disney were giving $180 million to so he could direct Thor and Hulk punching each other over and over again?!
Turns out that it was one of the best decisions that Marvel and Disney had ever made when it came to picking directors, as Thor: Ragnarok was a huge critical and commercial success, and has gone down as one of the very best MCU movies to date.
And so, five years later (Waititi was busy winning Oscars for Jojo Rabbit in between), he is back to direct Thor: Love and Thunder, which arrives in Irish cinemas this week.
In the run-up to the movie's release, JOE had the Irish exclusive interview with the man himself, who also co-wrote the script and returns to star as Thor's rock-buddy Korg.
Check out our full chat with Waititi right here:
During our interview, in which we also discuss the arrival of one particular character during the post-credits scene, and Waititi's love for Michael Fassbender's comedic skills, we ask him if there were any particular directors out there that he would really like to see bring their skills to the MCU?
Waititi told us: "The Daniels, probably. They're the most exciting ones for me. And Janicza Bravo is another one."
For those who don't know, The Daniels are behind Everything Everything All At Once (one of our favourite movies of 2022 so far), and Janicza Bravo directed Zola (one of our favourite movies of 2021).
Waititi then continued: "When I came in, a lot of fans were like 'Who the fuck is this guy? He's going to ruin everything!', and that kind of made me quite happy to hear that. Then I was like 'Yeah, who am I? Maybe I am going to ruin everything!', and then I thought that was maybe the way to do that. Maybe I should try to ruin everyone's expectations of what these Thor films are.
"Because the first two Thor films were great, but I can't do films like that. They're sort of a bit too dramatic for me, and I can only do what is in my wheelhouse and what I'm interested in. So I just really concentrated on doing my best to make the fans proud, and to make them understand that there are different ways of telling a Thor story."
Thor: Love and Thunder arrives in Irish cinemas on Thursday, 7 July.
Clip via Disney Ireland
