As far as AMAs go, Taika Waititi’s was pretty good. AMAs big time suck because subjects can ignore whatever question they find inconvenient. It hands all power to the interview subject, which is stupid. But Waititi answered quite a bit, if vaguely.
Waititi answered a number of questions about the plot, cast and tone of his upcoming Marvel Studios movie, Thor: Ragnarok. What comes across most is how unlike Thor: Ragnarok is likely to feel from other Marvel Studios movies. Of course, they say this every time. It’s become a key part of marketing Marvel movies that the next one will be new and different — an endless hedge against accusations that Marvel movies all share a generic house style. Thor: Ragnarok is expected to be consequential for future Marvel movies, likely teeing up 2018’s Avengers: Infinity War, but Waititi seems to have little familiarity with what came before.
During the AMA Waititi claims to have never seen Captain America: Winter Soldier (“Jeez. I better see Winter Soldier… no joke”), the pivotal Phase 2 movie Marvel Studios president Kevin Feige has most often compared to the plot of Thor: Ragnarok.
Moreover, while the Thor: Ragnarok plot was originally described as quite dark, especially compared to the previous Thor movies, Waititi insisted it will be very much aligned with his more light-hearted style. “You can expect a Taika-esque tone. They’ve been very accepting of my style,” he said.
If that means nothing to you, check out this trailer for his most recent movie, Hunt for the Wilderpeople:
Waititi even said, “I made an effort to ignore the fact there are other Thor films.”
Here’s what else we learned about Thor: Ragnarok from director Taika Waititi:
- “I think TR will be one of the most adventurous and most "out there" of all the marvel movies. It's a crazy movie.”
- All Americans smell like Starbucks.
- “The tone is very different. Think CRAZY.”
- “I would have liked to get John C Reilly's character [from Guardians of the Galaxy] in the film but there was no real way to pull it off.”
- “Thor is awesome now” instead of being a dullard always upstaged by Loki.
- “There is a lot of Kubrick coming through in this TR film.”
- Mark Mothersbaugh is scoring Thor: Ragnarok “because he's a genius and his style fits with what we're doing.”
- “The style is inspired by 70s / 80s sci-fi fantasy art. Because our film feels like that.”
- Which character is going to steal the show? “Banner.”
Thor: Ragnarok will be out in theaters Nov. 7, 2017.
