Now that the âThor: Ragnarokâ director has conquered the world whatâs next?
Taika Waititi
Director Taika Waititi with Tessa Thompson (in costume as Valkyrie) on the set of âThor: Ragnarok .â (Disney/Marvel Studios)
IF EVEN a modest mainstream hit can turn Hollywood into your oyster  than Taika Waititiâs universe is now a string of pearls.
 Waititi  has been on the industryâs radar for more than a decade  since  his  first film release  the 2004 short âTwo Cars  One Night â scored an Oscar nomination (a short that later begot the feature film âBoyâ). But  he  was in no hurry to make big-budget movies like  his  somewhat subversive new âThor: Ragnarok â which has grossed more than $430 million worldwide.
Unlike other Marvel directors such as James Gunn and the Russo brothers   Waititi  has such an uncommon approach to directing a superhero movie that  he  might not even accept a shot at a sequel if Disney and Team Feige offered. It wasnât even Thor  as character or story  that particularly attracted the New Zealand native to saying yes to entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
âWhen I think of the comics  not muchâ is appealing   Waititi  tells The Postâs Comic Riffs of the Thor stories. âOther than  heâs basically an alien  he has access to these different worlds  and thatâs a cool way of [taking] the audience on an interesting adventure. He can fly in outer space and â¦ meet these crazy characters that youâd never see on Earth.â
(As for the Thor visuals as opposed to the comics stories   Waititi  does acknowledge: âAll these â70s comic books were so bright and colorful with these splash pages and bold art. â¦ It was a conscious decision to embrace that Jack Kirby artâ in âRagnarok.â)
When talking with  Waititi   you get the sense that  he  would get easily bored if  he  stuck with one genre or franchise for too long. As a kid   he  says   he  was attracted to painting and writing and theater and music  and filmmaking simply became a way to integrate all those passions. As a 42-year-old filmmaker  his interests seem creatively free-ranging and voracious.
All those elements work winningly in such indie films of  his  as âEagle vs. Sharkâ and âWhat We Do in the Shadowsâ (both co-starring Clement)  as well as âHunt for the Wilderpeople â and even his early mockumentary short âFlight of the Conchords: The Road to the Edinburgh Fringe Fest â in which he plays a clueless band manager worthy of âThis Is Spinal Tap.â (Even a Waititi TED talk is amusing as a self-aware intellectual walkabout â at times nearly a TED talk deconstructed.)
Director  [TGT]  with Tessa Thompson (in costume as Valkyrie) on the set of âThor: Ragnarok .â (Disney/Marvel Studios)
IF EVEN a modest mainstream hit can turn Hollywood into your oyster  than  [TGT] âs universe is now a string of pearls.
 Waititi  has been on the industryâs radar for more than a decade  since  his  first film release  the 2004 short âTwo Cars  One Night â scored an Oscar nomination (a short that later begot the feature film âBoyâ). But  he  was in no hurry to make big-budget movies like  his  somewhat subversive new âThor: Ragnarok â which has grossed more than $430 million worldwide.
Unlike other Marvel directors such as James Gunn and the Russo brothers   Waititi  has such an uncommon approach to directing a superhero movie that  he  might not even accept a shot at a sequel if Disney and Team Feige offered. It wasnât even Thor  as character or story  that particularly attracted the New Zealand native to saying yes to entering the Marvel Cinematic Universe.
âWhen I think of the comics  not muchâ is appealing   Waititi  tells The Postâs Comic Riffs of the Thor stories. âOther than  heâs basically an alien  he has access to these different worlds  and thatâs a cool way of [taking] the audience on an interesting adventure. He can fly in outer space and â¦ meet these crazy characters that youâd never see on Earth.â
(As for the Thor visuals as opposed to the comics stories   Waititi  does acknowledge: âAll these â70s comic books were so bright and colorful with these splash pages and bold art. â¦ It was a conscious decision to embrace that Jack Kirby artâ in âRagnarok.â)
When talking with  Waititi   you get the sense that  he  would get easily bored if  he  stuck with one genre or franchise for too long. As a kid   he  says   he  was attracted to painting and writing and theater and music  and filmmaking simply became a way to integrate all those passions. As a 42-year-old filmmaker  his interests seem creatively free-ranging and voracious.
All those elements work winningly in such indie films of  his  as âEagle vs. Sharkâ and âWhat We Do in the Shadowsâ (both co-starring Clement)  as well as âHunt for the Wilderpeople â and even his early mockumentary short âFlight of the Conchords: The Road to the Edinburgh Fringe Fest â in which he plays a clueless band manager worthy of âThis Is Spinal Tap.â (Even a Waititi TED talk is amusing as a self-aware intellectual walkabout â at times nearly a TED talk deconstructed.)