Marvel has often hired interesting filmmakers for its big superhero movies–from Kenneth Branagh and James Gunn to horror director Scott Derrickson, who is currently filming Doctor Strange. Taika Waititi is perhaps the most surprisingly choice so far–with only a couple of low budget New Zealand comedies under his belt, he has been handed 2017’s Thor: Ragnarok. Now Waititi has spoken about the progress of the movie.
Speaking to Hitfix at the recent Sundance Film Festival, Waititi revealed that while it was known that Hulk would play a major part in the film, exactly how much the character would speak was still undecided. “It’s interesting, because at the moment, there’s a big conversation that’s happening about how far to push that,” he said. “Whether or not the Hulk should be [verbal].”
“I think a lot of those conversations have more to do with what’s going to come up in future movies,” he continued. “So I think a lot of those decisions are larger group decisions, rather than anything to do with just me or the writer.
“They have a lot of stuff that they have to consider. But I do think that’s the best way to track it. I think we all want that. I think we all want to see that development.”
Waititi also revealed that Tom Hiddleton’s Loki would also make his return to the Marvel universe. “He’s such a big part of it,” he said. “And he’s such a great part of it. My focus really is making sure that Thor is the best character, though. He’s got to be. And it should be that way.”
Last month Hulk star Mark Ruffalo discussed the film, and explained that the movie would be “road movie,” that would focus heavily on the mismatched buddy comedy of Thor, played by Chris Hemsworth, and Hulk. “There’s a little bit of Midnight Run, with [Charles] Grodin and [Robert] De Niro,” he said, referring to the classic 1988 comedy. “I feel like that’s kind of where we’re heading with this relationship between Thor and Banner. It’s not your classic road movie but it has that structure, I think.”
Thor: Ragnarok is due to be released on November 3, 2017.