Taika makes Thor relatable
New Zealand director talks about going from small budget comedies to the $180m ‘Thor: Ragnarok’
Known mostly for his inventive, low-budget comedies, Taika Waititi joked last year that his deeply affecting and funny adventure Hunt for the Wilder-people was “The Revenant, without any money.”
If that sounds like a stretch, it should be noted that Waititi’s fourth feature went on to become the highest-grossing locally-made release in New Zealand history, smashing his own record for 2010’s Boy.
A year on, New Zealand’s most talked-about cinematic export since Peter Jackson is on the cusp of releasing his first Hollywood feature, having been trusted with the $180-million (Dh660.9 million) third instalment in Marvel’s Thor trilogy.
“What goes through your head is, ‘Okay, well Marvel’s lost their mind and they’re just asking anyone to do movies now,’” the 42-year-old Kiwi said, recalling the moment the Disney-owned studio came calling. Early reviews for Thor:
Ragnarok ahead of its release tomorrow in the UAE have been glowing, with Waititi widely praised for turning what many believe to be Marvel’s dullest Avenger into the wisecracking Cary Grant of the comic book genre.
The script leans much more heavily on Chris Hemsworth’s comic chops, inexplicably overlooked in the previous instalments.
“We knew it was there when we watched
Ghostbusters and he had a couple of lines in the other Marvel films,” says Waititi.
“Just from knowing him, I thought, ‘I like you more than the version of Thor that I’ve seen in the other films — I’d much rather hang out with you.’”
Relatability has been the director’s stock-intrade since he started out in feature films a decade ago, each new movie populated with fantastical but disarmingly downto-earth characters.
In What We Do in the
Shadows (2014) murderous vampires divvy up household chores and werewolves worry about ruining a hemline, while in Ragnarok the deity of thunder and the Hulk bicker and then make up like any married couple.
“We like to call it comedy of the mundane. It’s like, how do I get all of these actors and these characters who are very unique, all very different, on the same level, and on a level where the audience can really relate to them?” Waititi says.
Waititi, who is of Maori and Russian Jewish heritage, graduated from Victoria University in Wellington and went straight into the industry, winning acclaim and attention on the local awards circuit as an actor.
He eventually moved behind the camera but has appeared in all his movies, saving many of the funniest moments in
Ragnarok for himself as Korg, an effortlessly charismatic motion-capture alien.
On the globetrotting promotional tour, the all-star cast — which includes Tom Hiddleston, Cate Blanchett, Anthony Hopkins and Jeff Goldblum — have gone out of their way to remark on the fun atmosphere Waititi encourages.
Blanchett, cast by Waititi as Marvel’s first lead female baddie, described the 85-day shoot, mainly on Australia’s Gold Coast, as “probably the happiest film set I have ever been on.”
Waititi says he has been able to keep his feet on the ground during filming by concentrating on his strengths — tone, character, relationships — and ignoring “the scale of this monster, this beast.”
“It’s a huge, huge film,” Waititi said.
“I just had to keep reminding myself what’s more important is what’s inside the rectangle and, usually, it’s two or three people trying to remember their lines.”