Director Taika Waititi is poised for huge success with his first foray into mainstream Hollywood through Thor: Ragnarok but the New Zealander has made it clear that one property that would be out of his sandbox would be Star Wars.
RELATED: New Thor: Ragnarok TV Spot Boasts Heaps of Praise from Critics
Speaking to the New York Times, Waititi, whose Thor threequel is receiving rave reviews from critics before its global opening, made it clear that his style and narrative ambition wouldn’t fit what Lucasfilm envisions for its stories. “That particular franchise seems really hard. There’s not much room for someone like me,” he said.
“Through its narrow canon, the tone of Star Wars has always been determinedly self-serious, whereas the Marvel movies, like the decades of comics they sprang from, veer wildly from high drama to low comedy. And improvisation has been a tool in every Marvel movie since Robert Downey Jr. riffed his way through Iron Man,” added Waititi. His improvisation statement is of particular interest as he endorses such a method from his actors, which coincidentally is what got directors Chris Miller and Phil Lord in the creative bad books of Lucasfilm and eventually led to their firing from the Han Solo spinoff.
RELATED: Thor: Ragnarok On Track For $90-$100 Million US Debut
Earlier this year, when asked on Twitter if he would be up for a Star Wars film in the wake of Miller and Lord’s removal, Waititi replied: “Lolz, I like to complete my films. I’d be fired within a week.” — affirming that he has no intention of delving into this corner of space in a galaxy far, far away.
Directed by Taika Waititi, Thor: Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth, Tom Hiddleston, Tessa Thompson, Jeff Goldblum, Mark Ruffalo, Cate Blanchett, Idris Elba and Karl Urban. The film will be released Nov. 3 (with select screenings starting on Nov. 2) from Marvel Studios.