Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi has admitted he forgot that his film’s lead, Natalie Portman, appeared in three Star Wars films in the early 2000s.
The New Zealand filmmaker, 46, said the faux pas was made worse by the fact that he is set to helm the next film in the blockbuster sci-fi franchise.
Waititi recalled his awkward conversation with the 41-year-old Oscar winner during an interview with Rolling Stone.
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Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi (pictured) has admitted he forgot his film’s lead, Natalie Portman, appeared in three Star Wars films in the early 2000s
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He had asked the portman if she ever wanted to be in a Star Wars film and she politely reminded him that she had already done three.
‘She said to me, ‘What are you going to do next?’ I said, “Oh, I’m trying to work on a Star Wars thing. Always wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?” said Waititi.
“She said, ‘I was in a Star Wars movie,’ and I said, ‘Shall we do one more take?’
Portman got her big break as Queen Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which was released in 1999.
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Portman got her big break as Queen Padmé Amidala in Star Wars: Episode I – The Phantom Menace, which was released in 1999
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She reprized her role in Attack of the Clones and Revenge of the Sith. The prequel trilogy grossed a then-record $2.5 billion at the box office.
Lucasfilm announced in May 2020 that the next Star Wars film will be directed and co-written by Waititi.
The screenplay is co-written by Scottish screenwriter Krysty Wilson-Cairns, who received an Oscar nomination for her work on 1917.
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The New Zealand filmmaker, 46, said the faux pas was made worse by the fact that he is set to helm the next film in the blockbuster sci-fi franchise. (Waititi is seen with Tessa Thompson (left) and Natalie Portman (right) at the London premiere of Thor: Love and Thunder on July 5)
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No stranger to the Star Wars universe, Waititi previously directed the season finale of Disney+’s The Mandalorian and played the role of droid IG-11.
Although the film has no official release date, Waititi told Rolling Stone that it will not be released this year as it will be in New Zealand from August to December.
“I’ll never please the fans,” he said.
“You know, I don’t want to mess with something that’s so valuable. Also, you feel like you have to do a lot of research… and I don’t have time.”
Portman reprises her role in Thor: Love and Thunder as Jane Foster, who takes on the role of the mighty Thor and teams up with her ex-boyfriend Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to take on Gorr (Christian Bale), a villain who is determined is off to kill all the gods.
The actress, who didn’t appear in the third Thor movie and hasn’t been in the MCU since 2013, recently admitted she felt kind of an “outsider” on set.
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Portman reprises her role in Thor: Love and Thunder as Jane Foster, who takes on the role of the mighty Thor and teams up with her ex-boyfriend Thor (Chris Hemsworth) to take on Gorr (Christian Bale), a villain who is determined is off to kill all the gods
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Since Waititi, Hemsworth, and co-star Tessa Thompson had all previously worked together “so successfully” on 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok, Portman said she had to “figure out how she fits in with them.”
“They’re just the nicest people, plus I know Chris and Tessa so well from previous collaborations, plus I’ve done Thor movies twice before,” she told Vogue Australia.
She continued, “So there was also a lot of familiarity and comfort in that world, but it was this weird mix of being the veteran and the newcomer at the same time. I was there at the beginning. But at the same time you are the outsider of this group.”
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The actress, who didn’t appear in the third Thor movie and hasn’t been in the MCU since 2013, recently admitted she felt kind of an “outsider” on set
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