Trying to eschew the usual junket questions (What was this actor like?
Will you do a sequel?
What was this Easter egg about?
Hopefully, though, the resultant transcript will still be interesting to read… Had you seen all the films?
Id seen some of them.
Id seen some of those things.
Erm, I hadnt seen all of them.
Id enjoyed very much enjoyed The Avengersmovie, the first one.
I had seen the second one by the time that Marvel got in touch with me.
Yeah, Id seen sort of a bunch of those things.
Id lovedIron Man, you know, with a passion.
So, yeah, I hadnt seen everything.
that sort of thing and I was like, Suuuuure.
Er, I, er… better catch up on those movies.
[Laughs] Id seenThor 1before, I hadnt seenThor The Second One.
Um, and I actually really loved the second one.
Um, some people criticise it, but I thought they did a really great job.
And I thought the whole I dont know it just seemed to me to be a very satisfying storyline.
[Nodding] I thought they did fine.
And also, I hadnt heard that until later.
So I watched it and I was like, its a pretty good story, you know?
I get all the beats.
I understand whats going on, you know?
And Im feeling for the characters, you know, when the mum dies?
And, you know, I understood everything that was happening.
And, it had a satisfying end.
They didnt show me any ideas, actually.
They talked a little bit about, like, what it could be.
Because theres only so much of that you’re able to deal with, you know?
You saw it inStarman, you know?
Weve seen that before, many times before.
I mean, Thor turns into a frog in one of those comics.
I love that you reference that in the film, as well.
Well yeah, yeah!
So then you put together a sizzle, is that right?
And they were like, Oh thats really cool.
Thats a cool song.
They were like, Oh cool, never heard it before, very cool.
And I was like, Oh f, really worried now.
Er, and then, yeah, when I got the job.
And I knowBig Trouble In Little Chinawas one of the films.
He does not care.
Because all he wants is his truck.
The second cool thing is that he is the voice of the audience.
The entire movie, hes asking questions that the audience is asking.
Like, What the hell is that?
You know, who is that?
Who are these guys?
So what I wanted, with Thor, was like, for him to almost be the same thing.
For him to be freaked out and asking questions and saying, What the hell is this?
Because, if its all normal to everyone in the movie, then its like, I cant relate.
How am I supposed to feel like I care about anyone?
Um, so our big goal really was to make Thor more relatable and really just more like us.
Do you remember any of the other films that you had on there?
Before you even had a story, what the inspirations were?
Well, some of the films Ive never seen, but they just look cool.
I think I had a clip fromTeenage Mutant Ninja Turtles, but Id never seen it.
What, the recent one?
Yeah, the recent one.
Two people on the road.Withnail & I, there were someWithnail & Iclips in there.
That wouldve been cool.
And so how did it go from there?
[Eric Pearson, Craig Kyle and Christopher Yost are the three credited with writing the script.]
But I assume you were involved in that process.
So how did that work?
And then, improvise a lot of stuff, you know?
Yeah, the script to me is more of like a kinda suggestion, you know?
Sort of like a blueprint.
Um, its a recipe, but sometimes, you know, recipes call for a bit of improvisation.
And, you know, some times you want six eggs instead of four eggs in your cake.
So they had a bunch of people doing the script.
Yeah, a bunch of people offering eggs to the cake, yeah.
No, I feel like on these films, there are many writers.
But, again, the end product was really good.
So I guess it all comes out.
Its, um, I dont know…
So you did theTeam Thor: Civil Warshort film.
Was that kind of just before you started shooting?
Where did that slot in for you, in terms of the film being made?
Er, that, um, that came in about a month before we started shooting, or something.
A few weeks before we started.
And, um, when we put it out, people realised.
They thought, Oh, okay.
I think I get what theyre doing now.
Because when I first got the job, people were just unsure.
What, this guy that made a vampire documentary is making this movie?
What is Marvel doing?
Like, you know?
And, in full disclosure, I kind of felt the same at some points.
Man, what are they doing?
[Laughs] You know?
Surely someone else is more qualified than me.
It was a big leap for you in terms of the budget and the scale.
So how did you approach the shoot?
How did you handle it?
How did you kind of rise up to it?
My trick was just to not care.
I felt like I knew what I was doing.
And also, the, sort of like a confidence thing goes a long way.
And, once youve done that, then you, kinda, everyone else follows.
Its all really just about convincing the crew that you know what youre doing.
And once you might do that, you know, it doesnt matter.
Sometimes, a little bit.
Like, This lines good, important.
This line you should probably say.
These lines you oughta say.
Which is, in some ways, its not even new.
Because Downey and those guys have been working that way for a long time.
I kind of just feel that weve done more of it than any other film, in this one.
[laughs] Which is, were still writing the idea.
So were gonna try and shoot that, and, see where that gets us.
Were not gonna be in it.
Were just doing it.
And isnt there a New Zealand TV show, as well?
Yeah, about the police [fromWhat We Do In The Shadows].
Thats gonna shoot, as well.
Holy shit, I forgot about that.
Actually Ive sort of got too much work to do.
Well, I look forward to seeing it all anyway.
Yeah, me too.
[Laughs]
Taika Waititi, thank you very much!
Thor: Ragnarokis in UK cinemas from October 27th.
