Why Taika Waititi thought Thor: Ragnarok would be a 'career-ender'

Taika Waititi is a director screenwriter and actor from New Zealand early in his career he directed episodes of flight of the conchords for HBO his 2016 movie hunt for the we'll dirty-ice grossing New Zealand film in history so here's the question why does taiga why did he do next he takes some of that flavor smuggles it into a 180 million dollar Marvel superhero movie Thor Ragnarok stars Chris Hemsworth Cate Blanchett Anthony Hopkins and many more it opens tomorrow Tyko y2d is the film's director he's in studio with me live now and I feel like when I said that budget it was the first time you had heard it to judge where your face the story here I hear I hear that part of the reason you got this gig is something to do with the sizzle reel which is typically you know the best of your career but it wasn't just the best of your career well in different clips it was the best of other people's careers it was no there were no clips of my own in this is real so what did you show this reel from since I made one and one only in my career which is this one that got me the job turns out is something to kind of help convey totally what you were planning to do with the film and what you know because there was no story when I went there was they don't have a story or any ideas really they would just say well we want to give him a haircut and Bruce Banner should be in the movie and we want it to be fun so I am cut together little little clips and shots are basically illegally torrent of you know and ripped clips from from the internet a bunch of them now that might say in there on anybody and then I put it I put the whole thing to to immigrant song by Led Zeppelin which if you've seen the film the finished film before it's in the film too so they watch that and they're impressed by their and and then they they they instantly asked well we should maybe look at the getting the rights to the song as well because it's so perfect for the film that doesn't exist with it without due respect like people who make films like yours in the past don't don't move these like this don't do thor ragnarok movies like this why did you want to do it I think it was something and expected for myself something unpredictable I I just didn't I was starting to feel like I might you know be repeating myself you know when I was I was editing editing hunt for the will the people when they gave me the call and said but I'd be interested in this movie and then they yeah yeah it was just something that I felt like this could be a career ender in a good way this could be something that the idea it makes me very nervous and I know that would have felt like that in the past there's been a good thing creatively is there is there similarities though I mean it's I'm kind of painting like it's two completely different worlds like making more of an indie film they are very similar like what and the way that you get into these things whether I could kind of you know make myself feel like I had something to offer and and that I guess somehow that there was an infamy creatively was think of this thing like an independent film so you know we really when you look at the stories just about a guy trying to get home because there's a burglar in his house and he's trying to get home you know cross across just happens to be across the universities trying to it's trying to travel but you know this is really like after hours the set in space you know he's like it accompanied by his annoying brother and a drunk chick and bipolar guys prone to temper tantrums and if you think about it like that just the simplicity of the story that's my end that's the way that I can figure out how to make these characters more relatable to the audience and you know humanize them where they're at were there moments really that you may have been a bit a bit daunted a bit like oh my god what am I have to get myself into only the very first time that I've really got the job and I thought okay well you know but it wasn't walking on set and going like no no and and and the reason really is because I've been I've done a lot of I've done some I've done a few big commercials pretty big deal when you shoot those things only thing is they're only a day long 85 days of shooting but we had about nine months of the pre-production and you know prepping so I really got to know everyone and you really just form it yeah forming like a village amassing all of you your kind of troops and getting ready to go and to do this thing so by the time it's day one of shooting I was very comfortable they were on I knew everyone quite well I like to foster a kind of a sense of of peace and and and fun on my sets so we play like a lot of music and you know I like to create environment where it's um you know it's it's acceptable to be to give each other's and to like you know it's gonna you know bit creatively feel like we add there's an open dialogue going on some people there's you know I encourage bad ideas I encourage terrible ideas because I think from there you we often find more interesting creative solutions to things you also show up in the film and take a listen to this this is you in character talking to you Chris Hemsworth's Thor thought unique was made from this special metal from the heart of a dying star and when I spun it really really fast it gave me the ability to fly ahem uh no I didn't ride down the hammer oh you on your back no no I spin it really fast and it would pull me off oh my god am i pulled off the ground pulled me off the ground up into the air and I would fly every time I threw he'll always come back to me sounds like you had a pretty special and intimate relationship with this hammer and then losing that was almost comparable to losing a loved one it's a nice way of putting it if you're just tuning in you're listening to cue I'm Tom power I'm speaking with the director of thor ragnarok Taika Waititi how did they allow that exit into this giant that's just about what I'm gonna ask because I was so the producer of this segment like the pirard the producer who worked on this with me is from Australia yes and I instantly soon as I heard that that clip came up my Institute looked over towards you that she would know their accent that's like a tip okay no from Australia or New Zealand will recognize that as a very like colloquial very rural New Zealand accent and um and it just it has a certain connotations and you know we all know people like that but she was telling me that there's a lot of Australian New Zealand references inside there's really one of the great Australian comedies the castle there's a lot of references from that and did you ever smell all those relationships all the space ships than the in the film named after Holden's with her as a type of car so was this was this a did you have a sneak this in or was did you have to fight for these references no no I mean that accent and that that character I always put myself in my films because I'm an egomaniac but the that character kind of came about because there were no more characters left I knew I was gonna play something but um he was only like in like maybe one or two scenes and just reading through the script and the scenes with Chris I just saw playing with different accents and different characters and stuff and that one just sort of came out it should yeah we just found it really funny coming from down there but you know what I'm saying like earlier when I was introducing you I was talking about how there's a certain New Zealand Australian brand of comedy that we've seen in your work before in flight of the conchords and in your films even though this is a gigantic 73 billion dollar film mm-hmm yeah well every day every time I talk about it it costs more you wanted to put some of that flavor in there yeah and where we come from and it's the same here as well you know if there's it's more of the you know what we call the comedy of the mundane which is really like here's the difference most of these studio films these these blockbusters the jokes that you hear were written about a year before they say the shooting you know in a boardroom with you know a couple of dudes or patting each other on the back for coming out with a quip I'd use this script as a suggestion so we turn up to sit and like how do we make this funnier and how do we drag the joke on and keep it going and you know why don't we like make fun of how boring these moments are these films but these aren't typically things that happen in superhero movies no that's right in this and that's what I'm surprised that you know and pleasantly surprised that we were able to do that but this is a very kind of it does have very news do and a British who you know Australian flavor to it humor wise the jokes do go on and they go on to the point beyond when they're funny and then we can even push them but further until they've become funny again I mean you had you had Australians in this you had Chris Hemsworth you had Cate Blanchet even had Karl Urban well contractually we were forced to use them yeah so but did that make it a bit easier well not everyone's funny but if you make it easy to put these jokes in knowing that they would you know oh because their surroundings yeah I guess so I guess so yeah it's more my thing really is like you know what I find funny are things where Colt m4 would be sitting on on a bed after having an argument and talking about feelings because I've never seen that before in a superhero movie and I find that kind of thing hilarious because it's like how when you see how ridiculous these anyway over-the-top these characters are and then have them talking about stuff that we all talk about you know after we've had an argument that to me is like there's hilarious to me you must be very proud of this film and seeds are doing very well and okay critically very well critically a 96% rating on Rotten Tomatoes right now yeah and people don't want to like superhero movies I'm not gonna let you go into what these critics will go and just they'd not they feel that they don't want to like these films and what's been great is they you know despite themselves they've enjoyed it because when I said when I said the 96 percent on Rotten Tomatoes you put a face on that was a little bit like wow I just woke up like I think I think you can't believe it either I wanna know who the names but you know what I mean ya know well I think a general food superhero movies you know you it's it's always hard to tell the specially making these things yourself and with any film I feel like this when I'm editing and like goes to see end I guess I've had a good run you know this could be the end of the career that's alright I felt like a really felt like a risk and who knows if you know if anyone's gonna like the stuff you know six months into the Edit you know you can't you could never tell as long as I like it in it so in my mum saw the council how'd she like it she's loved it what did you learn from making a she's one of the 96% what did you what did you learn from making this film this gigantic one hundred and forty three trillion dollar film that you climbing and staggering how much this budget isn't that you can take back to when you make your next films or will you go back to making smaller if I'm going back to make much smaller ones got some screenplays that I've you know I've been holding on to that I'm gonna do the end and I actually really like my screenplay so I think they're pretty good mm-hmm so I'm excited to go back and do those and then I'd like to come back and do something else here you know they're kind of one for them one for you kind of kind of scenario but but are you gonna take anything from the making of Thor Ragnarok back to these this you know to back to these smaller films did you learn anything I don't know if I'll learn to anything really know I feel like I I sort of brought so much of myself and my style of filmmaking to this that have changed I've completely changed the cinematic landscape forever more never again for sure I mean I think the experience I mean just how long this thing was 85 days of shooting all my films are 25 days and we one thing I did learn was how to try and you know maintain my energy and and and keep that stamina because it's so exhausting and yeah it's fun and you're working you're basically telling jokes all day but it's like it's stressful it was stressful I don't carry my stress from the neck up it's all Freight or underneath so you wouldn't ever notice that you probably look at me right now and think eyes the most carefree guy in the world but from down here I'm a wreck you're a rack mm-hmm and you learn I'm guessing this sometimes big risks pay off yeah so do I push it in the next one and do something even crazier like police are carefully so Kadim e20 weekend at Bernie's 43 just skip all of the other numbers and go straight to 20 because it's a cooler number than seven takeaway to you thanks for coming in and talking to me thanks for having me

Channel: Q with Tom Power

Views: 1,775,272

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Id: AejGW2Rgslc

Length: 12min 49sec (769 seconds)

Published: Sat Nov 04 2017