It’s no exaggerating to say that a big part of the reason why Thor: Ragnarok wound up being fun as hell was director Taika Waititi.
The New Zealand-born filmmaker brought an innate playfulness to the film that turned it from the usual standard Marvel superhero-punches-and-saracastic-quips fare into something bright, big, loud, and totally great.
The box office receipts and the critical reception that the film has hauled in just about guarantees Waititi’s status as a made man in Hollywood, and it’s now really only a matter of time before the next giant-scale project lands on his desk.
As it turns out, that next project has a fair chance of being a Star Wars film.
LucasFilm president Kathleen Kennedy spoke to NewsHub ahead of the hotly-anticipated release of The Last Jedi, and not-so-subtly kind-sorta joking-but-not-really offered Waititi a gig directing a film in the new, expanded Star Wars cinematic universe.
I would love for him to direct a Star Wars movie. I think he has exactly the right sensibility. It was very exciting to see him step into the Marvel universe and do such an amazing job with Thor.
She then playfully encouraged NewsHub to “let him know,” and (somewhat jokingly but somewhat not) insisted that the offer was genuine.
Waititi has previously stated a desire to direct a Star Wars film, noting that he is “not an idiot” and stated “Who would actually say no to Star Wars?”
A jump across to the Star Wars universe wouldn’t be the most difficult of leaps for Waititi. Both LucasFilm and Marvel Studios are owned by the same corporation in Disney, so any potential contractual issues would be minimal.
Whatever the case, the Skywalker clan isn’t in Waititi’s immediate future, with the 42-year-old’s next project set to be Bubbles, an animated film for Netflix centred on Michael Jackson‘s companion chimpanzee of the same name.
Y’know the phrase “dream career” gets bandied about fairly often, but man…
