Director reveals cameo inspiration for Thor
Taika Waititi has been hitting the Thor marketing trail hard this week, with two very different interviews.
Appearing on the Australian version of The Project, the director and actors revealed the character cameo he plays on Thor: Ragnarok was inspired by a Ma¯ori bouncer on K Road in Auckland.
Alongside actors Chris Hemsworth (Thor) and Mark Ruffalo (Hulk) to promote the upcoming Marvel film, Waititi was asked who was more funny out of Thor and the Hulk, it turned out neither of them.
The New Zealand director’s character Korg, a rock monster from out of space, topped the list.
Waititi said the kind of movie he wanted to watch had an alien that talked like a ’’Ma¯ori bouncer from K-Road in Auckland’’.
‘‘Oh gidday Thor, how’s it going man? Welcome to this alien planet. If I could be of any assistance while you’re here,’’ he mimicked.
‘‘My name is Korg. As you can see I’m made of rocks. I know it’s freaky.
‘‘Every time I pass my reflection I also freak out a bit, ah, yeah, anyway, nothing to fear ... unless you’re made of scissors.’’
Meanwhile, the Hunt for the Wilderpeople director was less about the laughs and more about the politics during an appearance on Ma¯ori current affairs show Marae, where he confessed he doesn’t see New Zealand as a land of wonder and equal opportunity.
When asked by a Marae reporter what his current political views were, Waititi, who has been living has been living in Los Angeles and Hawaii, delivered an epic list of ecological woes.
‘‘I’m not very proud of coming from a place that everyone overseas thinks is this beautiful clean, green country, whereas in reality, you know, all our lakes and waterways are poisoned,’’ he said.
Waititi picked up his political game this year, throwing his weight behind the Green Party’s campaign ahead of the election.
He appeared in a Green Party advert to launch its campaign in April.
It wasn’t just environmental issues that concerned Waititi.
He went on to list issues such as poverty and mental health.
‘‘We’ve got a lot to learn about, you know, our depression rates and our suicide rates and our teen suicide rates and child poverty numbers and the housing crisis and things like that, and then the way we make it so readily available to sell land for foreigners to buy. To me, they just seem like ‘oh that’s what you should fix’ before you think about things like money,’’ he told Marae.
Earlier in the year, the director and comedian also starred in a Human Rights Commission campaign telling New Zealanders: ‘‘racism needs your help’’.
The campaign tackled the issue of racism with Waititi’s trademark sarcasm.
By comparison, The Project’s interview was much more lighthearted affair, highlighting the camaraderie between the director and his stars.
During the interview actor Mark Ruffalo revealed his daughters (aged 9 and 12) wanted to be in the film.
While they weren’t allowed any lines, they were able to have makeup and hair done for a day and be an extra.
Unfortunately, they never made the final cut.
‘‘Such is the power I wield, ‘‘ Waititi responded. ‘‘As a director it’s almost godlike.’’
Ruffalo then said: ‘‘They weren’t any good.’’
‘‘Oh let’s face it, no-one is good in the movie,’’ Waititi said. ‘‘The special effects do wonders. With actors, you have to realise, they have very low self-confidence you really have to work that.
‘‘Every day if they threatened to revolt or if they weren’t doing their jobs properly, I’d say, ‘Chris, Mark, you know that Vincent D’Onofrio and Joel Edgerton are waiting out the back’.’’
Host and former Home and Away actress Kate Ritchie touched a nerve when she told Hemsworth he must be ’’pretty used to bad hair though’’ and then brought up a photo of him from his Home and Away days as a young Kim Hyde next to his current character Thor.
‘‘Well, let’s talk about those days,’’ he began to explain.
‘‘This is back when I grew up on independent cinema with Kate on this film called Home and Away, and it was about coming of age, a lot of different dramas and that haircut was essential, that was 1973 I think.’’
Hemsworth tried to shut down a plot reveal when one of the presenters said ’’the gorgeous Cate Blanchett plays your sister Chris and for a lot of this movie your sister, she’s trying to kill you.’’
Hemsworth interrupted by slamming his hands on the table.
‘‘You can’t give that away,’’ he said.
‘‘I didn’t. Let’s pretend I didn’t,’’ the host replied.
Hemsworth changed the conversation to Blanchett: ‘‘this new and up-and-coming Australian actress, straight off Home and Away,’’ he joked.
‘‘She may have to go back to Home and Away at some point, as will I.’’
Another potential spoiler was about Thor’s family. When asked whether Thor should just ‘‘get a new family’’ because of their issues, Hemsworth said it would be best to get rid of all of them and to stop digging down the family tree ‘‘because there seems to be too many skeletons in the closet’’.
‘‘See I gave it away again, I’m just doing it,’’ he said.
When Waititi came on the show, he and Ruffalo were asked to judge Hemsworth’s tour guide skills around Australia. Ruffalo declared his love for koalas while Waititi didn’t look impressed at all.
‘‘I don’t care if they have chlamydia, I don’t care,’’ Ruffalo said of koalas.
Hemsworth then recalled the time Matt Damon’s child got stung by a jellyfish when he showed them around Australia.