Taika Waititi has shown his incredible range as an actor cum filmmaker, and many people have been generous with their reviews of him. While his acting chops perfectly slap as portrayed by him in movies like Free Guy, so do his directing skills, as shown by him with his epic and one of the biggest fan-favorite masterpieces from the franchise that saved the Thor franchise, Thor: Ragnarok.
But, as surprising as it may be, had it not been for him being ‘poor’ and requiring the means to ‘feed his children’, Waititi would have never taken on Thor 3 and the world would have forever been devoid of all the sarcasm and action that the third installment from the Thor franchise brought about.
Also Read: “Don’t Come Back”: Taika Waititi Draws Fan Outrage, Confesses He Had Zero Interest in Directing Thor
Taika Waititi Never Wanted To Helm A Thor Film
Taika Waititi may have done wonders while trying his hand at one of the movies from the Thor film series–Thor: Ragnarok–but the truth is that he only did it out of necessity.
As he shared on a recent episode of the Smartless podcast, had he not been poor and looking for an opportunity to feed his children, the filmmaker would have never even wandered close to the franchise because of his lack of interest in ‘those films’.
“You know what? I had no interest in doing one of those films,” Waititi said. “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.’”
Continuing, he addressed how Thor was probably the least popular franchise of Marvel.
“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.”
So, had Marvel not approached him for helming Thor: Ragnarok and had he not been driven out of necessity, Taika Waititi would have never agreed to helm the Thor franchise? Seems mostly like it.
Why Taika Waititi Agreed To Direct Thor 4 As Well
While Taika Waititi’s revelation of him being ‘poor’ and lacking the means to ‘feed his children’ sounds pretty much unbelievable, it does raise another question: Why did he agree to direct Thor: Love and Thunder as well?
Because, considering the massive success of Thor 3, the filmmaker must have been left with more than enough to sustain himself and his family. In fact, even his current net worth is around $13 million!
However, Waititi has a reason for that as well: because Marvel was pretty much at the ‘bottom of the barrel’ after Thor 3.
“I think there was no place left for them to go with that,” Waititi said of Thor: Ragnarok. “I thought, ‘Well, they’ve called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel.”
Well, Taika Waititi’s being poor has proven to be both fruitful and fruitless for the Thor franchise: ‘fruitful’ because Thor: Ragnarok saved the franchise, and ‘fruitless’ because of Thor: Love and Thunder. (Don’t really need to elaborate on the last one, we guess.)
