Taika Waititi Says He Had No Interest in Directing THOR, but He Was "Poor" and Needed to Feed His Kids

Director Taika Waititi revealed in a recent interview that he really had no interest in signing on with Marvel Studios to make a Thor movie. The filmmaker ended up making two films for them including Thor: Ragnarok and Thor: Love and Thunder. He explained that the reason he initially took the job was for the money as he just had his second child. He shared on the SmartLess podcast:

“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. 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.'

“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.’ And then I did some research on it, and I read one Thor comic or 18 pages, or however long they are. I was still baffled by this character.”

Waititi was then asked if the Marvel executives were scared to bring him on board, and he responded, saying: “I think there was no place left for them to go with that. I thought, ‘Well, they’ve called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel.”

It’s an interesting attitude that he has toward getting an opportunity like this. It seems like the whole thing was done grudgingly. This guy was a working filmmaker who was constantly working and making great films before Thor. I guess his definition of poor is different from other people's.

These comments kind of struck a nerve with me because I was laid off from a job the week after I had my second kid. I couldn’t find work for a long time after that. I’ve experienced what it was like to be poor for real and constantly worried about feeding my family and paying bills. Must be rough to have Marvel knock on your door and offer you a job to make a comic book movie.

Anyway, Waititi has confirmed that he will not return to direct Thor 5. He explained: "I know that I won't be involved…I'm going to concentrate on these other films that I've signed on for… So that's six, seven years gone. I'd imagine another 'Thor' would be a lot sooner than that…But I love Marvel, I love working with them. I love Chris. I would never feel like they are cheating on me. We're in an open relationship, and it's like if they want to see other people, I'm happy for that. I'd still get back into bed with them one day."

What are your thoughts on the recent comments that Waititi made here?