Taika Waititi Teases His ‘Star Wars’ Movie: “It Feels Very Me”
Taika Waititi, both the person and the director, has never been shy about showing off his unbridled personality. Joining the Marvel machine withThor: Ragnarokcould have spelled creative doom for the bubbly talent, but he still managed to inject his lively energy into the proceedings and is already well on his way todoing the same with the sequel,Thor: Love and Thunder. On top of everything else, Waititi also has a secretiveStar Warsproject on the docket and, thankfully, fans can rest assured that it’ll remain Taika Waititi through and through.
It was a pleasant surprise indeed when we first found out thatLucasfilm had hired Waititi to directaStar Warsmovie of his own. In a long profile withWired, the filmmaker reiterates that the film will still boast everything that makes a Taika Waititi movie, well, a Taika Waititi movie, and touches upon the status of the script.
“It’s still in the ‘EXT. SPACE’ stage. But we’ve got a story. I’m really excited by it because it feels very me.”
His reference to “EXT. SPACE” alludes to the screenwriting format of indicating establishing shots before the start of a scene, so it’s safe to say that Waititi is stillveryearly on in the process of writing the script. Between filming for theThorsequel, cameo-ing in James Gunn’sThe Suicide Squad, and serving as the dastardly villain inFree Guy(not to mention all the other projects he has on his plate), we can probably forgive the director for only just dipping his toe intoStar Warswaters for now.
A Balancing Act
Not every outgoing personality has been able to walk into Lucasfilm and come out with a completed movie that they can call their own. Directing duo Phil Lord and Chris Miller controversially parted ways with Star Wars during filming forSolo: A Star Wars Storywhile Colin Trevorrow similarly left pre-production of what turned out to beThe Rise of Skywalker, to name only two of the most notorious examples. For his part, Waititi suggests that he’s had no problems at all integrating his peculiarities with the ongoingStar Warsbehemoth. In explaining the tightrope he tries to accomplish with his movies, he adds:
“I tend to go down that little sincerity alleyway in my films. I like to fool the viewer into thinking ‘ha it’s this’ and then them going, ‘Damn it, you made me feel something!”
Taika Waititi has yet to experience a major misstep between navigating his original movies and much larger blockbuster fare, so here’s hoping that he continues to knock it out of the park withStar Wars.
