‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: Taika Waititi Reveals What His Director’s Cut Would Look Like and Why He’ll Never Make 1
The Thor movie franchise contains four films, and it doesn’t show any signs of slowing down. Thor: Love and Thunder delivered one of star Chris Hemsworth’s best opening weekends, which means it’s also one of director Taika Waititi’s best opening weekends. The New Zealand native and Hemsworth teamed up previously for Thor: Ragnarok, and they hammered the follow-up out of the park. As fans clamor for Disney to #ReleaseTheWaititiCut, Waititi reveals what his director’s cut would look like and why it’ll never see the light of day.
Taika Waititi revived the ‘Thor’ franchise with ‘Thor: Ragnarok’
Landing the role of Thor catapulted Hemsworth to superstardom as the first movie won over fans. Yet the 2013 sequel to the original, The Dark World, was the worst Marvel movie on Rotten Tomatoes for a long time. Four years passed before Waititi delivered Thor: Ragnarok, but the wait was worth it. The director delivered one of the most beloved movies in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
As Waititi tells it, when Ragnarok opened big and got fans back into Thor movies, Marvel boss Kevin Feige asked him to do it all again. Apparently, the powers that be greenlit Love and Thunder over dinner with nothing but a loose idea.
Waititi convinced Christian Bale to sign on as the villain Gorr the God Butcher. The Kiwi also got Natalie Portman to return to the series for the first time since The Dark World. Portman said Love and Thunder was different from any movie she’s starred in because of all the quality material left out of the movie. Fans shouldn’t expect to see that footage anytime soon because a Waititi director’s cut seems highly unlikely.
Waititi’s ‘Thor: Love and Thunder’ director’s cut “would have a few more jokes,” but he doesn’t plan to release one
Classic films such as Apocalypse Now and Blade Runner received director’s cut editions. Ridley Scott’s cut of the latter remains the definitive version for fans.
For Thor: Love and Thunder aficionados, what you see in theaters is Waititi’s director’s cut. But if he released an extended version (which he won’t as he has some strong negative opinions about director’s cuts), it would lean into the comedy, as he told NME:
“I’d say my cut would probably have a few more jokes in there. There might be a couple of deleted scenes, but as I always say, a scene is deleted because it’s not good enough to be in the film. I think the deleted scenes section on the DVD … should just be a list of the scenes and no links so you can’t click on them!”
Taika Waititi describes his Thor: Love and Thunder director’s cut
Don’t get your hopes up for a Waititi director’s cut — he thinks they’re self-indulgent garbage.
“I’ve been thinking about director’s cuts. I watch director’s cuts of a lot of other directors. They suck. Director’s cuts are not good,” Waititi told NME. “Directors need to be controlled sometimes, and if I was to say, ‘ah you wanna watch my director’s cut? It’s four and a half hours long!’ It’s not good, at four and a half hours. There’s a lot of cup-of-tea breaks in there, you don’t even have to pause it.”
‘Thor: Love and Thunder’: Fans call on Marvel to issue trigger warning; post-credit scenes feature two cameos from stars
The Thor: Love and Thunder trailer doesn’t deeply reveal many of the storylines. Based on those two minutes, all we know is Thor faces a new threat as he comes out of retirement, that Jane returns to aid him, and that the movie climaxes with an epic battle scene.
Yet, some fans want Marvel to issue a trigger warning due to some sensitive scenes in the movie, as the Independent reports (spoilers in link).
No spoilers here, but the movie’s two post-credit scenes involve surprise cameos. One has a Thor regular make and appearance, and the other has Ted Lasso fans excited.
Love and Thunder is also something of a Hemsworth-fest. In addition to Chris Hemsworth, the movie features his brother Luke in an uncredited role as Actor Thor. Additionally, Chris’ son, Tristan, plays Kid Thor, while one of his daughters, Sasha, is an Asgardian Kid.
Thor: Love and Thunder is now in theaters.
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