"I had no interest in doing one of those films"- Taika Waititi reveals he did the Thor films for money

Taika Waititi caused one of the biggest uproars in the far and wide Marvel Cinematic Universe when he directed Thor: Ragnarok, one of the most successful and critically acclaimed MCU movies of all time.

But in a recent interview on the Smartless podcast, the Next Goal Wins director revealed that he originally had no intention of doing the two Thor films that he directed for Marvel.

In fact, the veteran director and Oscar favorite revealed that he solely took up the project because he was "poor" and had to "feed his two children." While subtly commenting on the state of artistic or auteurist films in Hollywood as compared to big-budget franchise films, Taika Waititi also revealed that he had minimal idea about the character of Thor and did not really read any of the Marvel comic books as a kid.

He said:

"You know what? I had no interest in doing one of those films,...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.'"

Thor: Ragnarok went on to collect $865 million at the box office while being made on a budget of $180 million. The second film he directed for Marvel, Thor: Love and Thunder, also earned $760.9 million at the box office despite receiving mixed reviews from critics.

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"It was probably the least popular franchise"- Taika Waititi on picking up Thor

While it would be difficult to call Thor the least popular franchise now, the Thor films were lagging behind the likes of Iron Man or Captain America before the MCU indefinitely expanded to many other characters. Of course, all of it charged soon, but for Waititi, this was a valid reason for picking up the Thor franchise.

While talking about his MCU stint, Taika Waititi continued:

"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."

He further elaborated that Marvel had little idea about where to take the franchise next and had reached out to him for ideas for the third Thor film, which he took as a sign of creative independence that ultimately took the shape of Ragnarok.

He added:

"I think there was no place left for them to go with that,...I thought, ‘Well, they’ve called me in, this is really the bottom of the barrel."

Though things progressed with the third film, the fourth was a significant drop and it made Taika Waititi finally withdraw from the project for good. He clarified that he will not be involved in the fifth proposed Thor film, saying:

"I know that I won’t be involved. I’m going to concentrate on these other films that I’ve signed on for."

He also revealed that he is currently involved in many projects that would take the next six or seven years to complete, which would physically not enable him to make a Thor film, which should come much sooner.

Taika Waititi is currently involved with a Klara And The Sun adaptation.