My name is Taika Waititi.
W-A-I-T-I-T-I.
My first name, Taika, like tiger, but Taika.
Spelt the same,
except get rid of the replace that with a
and get rid of the "ER" and you put and "A" instead
in the front part. The "T" remains the same obviously.
And then you just add...
You slip a little "A" in between the "T" and the
Cut. Action. Action.
WAITITI: All right, here we go.
Cut. You got it. One more for good luck.
You did great today. Well done.
Good. Cut.
BRAD WINDERBAUM: Taika is a dream director.
He is great at expressing himself.
Everyone, attention, please.
- (RINGING) - Great. Hey, excellent...
There, right.
The tables are turning. Thor starts winning.
Falling, falling, falling and crash.
- He's an amazing talent. - Cut.
So cool.
He is by far the most wacky and physical director
that I have ever worked with.
I carry this around while I'm directing,
and it demands respect.
Good.
CATE BLANCHETT: The minute you meet him,
you just think, "I'll do anything for you."
(BOTH LAUGHING)
He's great. He's quite a character.
I think that up until my arrival in Thor's universe,
it has been lacking the presence of someone who takes the world seriously.
(BOTH LAUGHING)
Marvel has a great tradition of hiring really exciting filmmakers
that can bring new life into these superhero movies.
Ah...
This is a guy who is not only a great storyteller
with a great visual sense,
but also, he's really funny.
(LAUGHING)
What's good about Taika is his humor.
It's so particular and unique and quirky.
There's just this natural buoyancy with the way that he thinks.
There's no continuity when you're livin' in the moment!
- MAN: We're still rolling. - We're still rolling?
- I said cut. - MAN: Did you?
- In my mind. - (LAUGHTER)
He just has such a sense of play
and is so spirited.
He's just a big kid, basically.
So just goofing around on the set of Ragnarok.
- So much fun on the set. Thor 3. - (LAUGHTER)
The best directors, they have to be the boss.
They have to tell you what they want, put you in the frame, so to speak.
And he is in command, but he is so open to suggestions.
"Just can I try this?" "Yeah, go for it, mate. Go for it."
So I do things which are so outlandish.
Jolly happy hour! Have a mead, have some fun.
Taika is a collaborator.
And it's really wonderful to turn up to work
and know that you're in it together.
He seems to, and everybody warned me, you know,
provide leadership in this special atmosphere,
creative and fertile and welcoming. And he's enjoying himself.
Yeah. (LAUGHING)
He has such a compassion and understanding for the actor's process.
And that's gonna stack up with that. I think what it is,
is you take a half... Exactly.
- So you stay on your line. - Stay on your line.
Look at this. You just come over a touch. Okay, good.
And you boom, confuse, punch and you jump over it.
Those are my instructions.
MARK RUFFALO: He's super smart.
(LAUGHTER)
And he's a physical genius.
As you can see here, he looks completely inept
and totally inexperienced in fighting, which is true for Chris Hemsworth,
but obviously not for Thor.
(CHANTING)
I come from humble background.
I'm more well-known for independent storytelling,
or storytelling on a budget.
JAKE MORRISON: In independent film world, you have to do everything.
Yeah!
So he already understands cameras, he understands lighting
and understands blocking and set design, and props and set deck.
He can wear costumes. He likes wearing the costumes.
Who just got replaced?
Every single costume you're seeing, he's worn it.
They pitched this, uh, as a costume for an extra.
And I'm trying it on, I wear it all day long,
and if it passes my test, it will go on to an extra.
So tomorrow I'll try a different costume for another extra.
And we've got 5,000 extras.
MAN: Get back!
(GROWLING)
Hey, man. My name is Korg. I'm kind of like the leader in here.
I'm made of rocks, as you can see, but don't let that intimidate you.
You don't need to be afraid, unless you're made of scissors. (CHUCKLES)
Korg is played by Taika Waititi, who's an incredible actor.
It's so funny, 'cause I kept saying, "You gotta play someone in this film.
"Who're you gonna play? What're you gonna do?"
Good luck in your fight today, Thor. We believe that you can do it.
I don't think he can do it.
His character's extremely fascinating to me.
He's a giant man made of rock and stone and granite and opal.
And who knows what's beyond that? Is it flesh and blood?
(SOFTLY) Or just more stones?
What about you? You're made of rocks.
Perishable rock. There you go. Another one gone.
Korg's 100% digital.
When we had Taika perform this stuff, we had him with the head-mounted cameras
and Taika's giving it his all.
Ah, yeah, no, this whole thing is a circle.
But not a real circle. More like a freaky circle.
This doesn't make any sense.
No, it doesn't make any sense. Nothing makes sense to you.
You're in a sort of sense deprivation zone.
HEMSWORTH: Having him as an actor standing opposite you
as well as being the director is a fairly unique kind of thing.
Let's just do the walk from here now.
A motion capture suit? What is that?
Pajamas with triangles all over them, ping-pong balls.
It's very hard to be taken seriously as a director
when you're wearing that stuff.
(LAUGHTER)
As a director, I think Taika's a fantastic actor to work with.
He's very generous to other actors, he's very professional.
There's something very special about him and I wanna see him go far.
As Taika the actor,
I think Taika the director is incredibly generous.
He often gives Taika the actor a lot of time to get it right,
a lot of time to learn his lines.
While he's acting, he gives him a lot of takes.
The relationship between the two Taikas
is actually, um, fascinating for other people to watch.
Infuriating for producers to watch, but fascinating for the crew.
Get on the spaceship!
There's a kitchen just to the left.
You go down the stairs to the right, a big bedroom.
It's not very hygienic.
One of the bittersweet experiences of acting in this film
was taking all of those Thor fans and turning them into Korg fans.
Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thunder!
And I don't know what will happen to the Thor franchise because of that.
Miek, where are you from?
- Oh, Miek's dead. - Oh.
Yeah, no, I accidentally stomped on him on the bridge.
All I can say is what the world needs right now is Korg,
the rock man.
The revolution has begun.
(GASPS) Miek, you're alive! He's alive, guys.
What was your question again, bro?