Taika Waititi Wanted to ‘Piss Fans Off’ With ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
Marvel fans agree that Taika Waititi completely reinvented the character of Thor with Thor: Ragnarok. Coming off of one of the most poorly reviewed Marvel Cinematic Universe films — Thor: The Dark World — it was obvious that the God of Thunder needed a change. And Thor: Ragnarok, directed by Waititi, was a massive success. But it was challenging for the director to live up to the hype with Thor: Love and Thunder.
Director Taika Waititi addresses the challenges of making ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’
While speaking with Rolling Stone, Taika Waititi revealed how he approached making Thor: Love and Thunder following Thor: Ragnarok.
“In some ways, I kind of wish Ragnarok wasn’t so good,” the director shared. “Because this is a hard film to follow up that one with. Because you’re promising stuff to be like, ‘Oh, it’s gonna be crazy. It’s gonna be bigger. It’s gonna be more bombastic.’ I mean, I think it is. We’ve got a Viking ship that goes through space with two giant goats towing it. And two Thors and Russell Crowe. So what could be crazier than that this summer?”
Waititi continued, “What I wanted to do, to push it in a different direction, was to make it romantic. They kind of touched a little bit on the romance stuff in the first two films, but they didn’t really lean into the love aspect. And I was like, well, we’ve seen Thor in that big Kirby-esque world of all the color and pop art in Ragnarok. What would the fans least expect? Thor in love! What do the fans not want? Thor in love! What would really piss the fans off? And we’re doing that.”
Taika Waititi claims he took what he thought Marvel fans didn’t want to see and channeled that into Thor: Love and Thunder. But from our side of things, we loved seeing Thor reunite with Jane.
The director reveals his inspiration for the MCU movie
Just by watching the Thor: Love and Thunder trailer, it’s evident that Taika Waititi directed it. He has a very clear vision, and that comes across onscreen. And for the fourth Thor film, the director pulled inspiration from ’80s adventure flicks.
“You can see some of the influences in Chris [Hemsworth’s] [alternate] Thor costume, with the singlet,” Waititi told Rolling Stone. “That’s obviously an homage to Big Trouble in Little China, to [Kurt Russell’s] Jack Burton. I just wanted the whole thing to feel like an electric-guitar lead break.”
He added, “All the art and everything, it feels like an ’80s album cover. Even the title treatment — I wanted it all to feel like something I would draw on my school book in class when I was perfecting the Metallica [logo].”
Will Taika Waititi return for ‘Thor 5’?
Fans know Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, will return in some capacity in the future. However, it’s unknown what that will be, either in a solo film or elsewhere. And Taika Waititi disclosed that he’s open to directing Thor 5.
“I would definitely do one, but only if Chris did it,” the director told Insider. “But it would need to be something surprising and unexpected for me to want to do it. Like what would be the new take? The battles and all the fighting is fine, but I would want something that feels unexpected when it comes to the story. Like making just a $5 million movie with no fighting at all, just Thor on a road trip. Like Nebraska.”
Thor: Love and Thunder is now playing in theaters.
