Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy Throws Doubt On Taika Waititi’s Star Wars Film, Reveals ‘Thor: Love And Thunder’ Director Has Yet To Deliver A Script: “Tying Him Down, It’s Tricky”
In perhaps the best piece of news to hit the once-beloved franchise ever since it was bought out by Disney, Lucasfilm President Kathleen Kennedy says that due to a lack of real movement from Taika Waititi, production on the Thor: Love and Thunder director’s upcoming Star Wars film has all but officially been put on indefinite hiatus.
After spending the first part of a recent interview with Deadline‘s Mike Fleming Jr. addressing the recent (and ultimately false) rumors surrounding her potential end-of-year retirement, Kennedy took the time to answer a few of the entertainment reporter’s questions regarding the current state of the Star Wars franchise.
Making specific inquiries regarding the production status of the various silver screen outings supposedly on the way from Dark Phoenix writer and director Simon Kinberg, Indiana Jones and the Dial of Destiny director James Mangold, Deadpol & Wolverine director Shawn Levy, and learning that the first two are in the script writing phase and the third has yet to start in earnest due to its scheduling many years down the line, Fleming Jr. ultimately asked Kennedy, “Any other that I’ve forgotten?”, to which she replied, “Well, I keep waiting for Taika [Waititi], and he is working with another writer now.”
“He’s so busy,” she added. “I love him. I think if we ever do get a script from Taika, it’s going to be fantastic. I already saw a first act that I loved, but tying him down, it’s tricky.”
Notably, Kennedy did not provide any details on just what non-script form she “saw” Waititi’s first act, nor what its contents were.
Met with the opinion from Fleming Jr. that Waititi’s work on Thor: Ragnarok “is what you want when you go to a movie theater on a Saturday nigh,” Kennedy ultimately asserted, “It’s so true. And that’s exactly the tone we’re always looking for with filmmakers who can pull that off.”
“It’s not like they’re a dime a dozen,” she concluded. “You’re really trying to find the diamond in the rough and he’s one of them.”
First announced on May 4th, 2020 – otherwise known as Star Wars Day – via the official Star Wars website, little word has been given since then regarding either the production status or creative direction of Waititi’s film.
In June 2023, Waititi was asked by The Hollywood Reporter for a status update on the film’s progress, to which he asserted, “I’ve got a really good idea for it. It’s just as with all films, it’s this middle part. You’re like, ‘What’s going to happen?’ And then you look at all of those films that are so great, you’re like, ‘Well, I guess they can’t meet some smuggler with an alien sidekick.'”
Later that November, when pressed by Variety for any insight as to what fans could expect from his film, Waititi joked, “It will be…dramatic pause…a Taika Waititi film. It’s gonna piss people off.”
More About:Movie News