From blind date to besties: How Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi became the dynamic duo the MCU needs

With Thor: Love and Thunder just days away from its theatrical debut, we’re learning more about the brilliant friendship between Chris Hemsworth and Taika Waititi.

In terms of bromance, you’d be hard-pressed to find one as wonderful as theirs, and it’s all because of a semi-awkward first-date scenario that led to the pair meeting for the first time, which they shared with People in a video clip accompanying an article about the film’s monster design.

“I came to meet Chris at a little cafe,” Waititi begins before Hemsworth notes that he’d just seen a movie done by Waititi, and he knew they had to meet.

“I’d seen Boy, which is a film Taika did and I was like, ‘I want to meet that guy.’ And I’d call my agent that set up a meeting. And as you said, we were at a cafe. And it was super awkward.”

Awkward seems almost an understatement because — for as close as the two are now, they stumble over the process like it was an uncomfortable first date.

W – “I’ve never really gone to those meetings before, and I was like ehh…eh…”
H – “It’s like a first date, a blind date, and I said, ‘I’ve never done this. He’s never done this.”
W – “We were both just really polite to each other…
H – “Then, we just became best friends.”
W – “We became best friends, and cut to now, we’ve got tattoos of each other’s faces — on each other’s faces. I’m actually Chris,” Waititi said before Hemsworth added that he’s actually Taika.

While their friendship certainly enhances the film, it’s something they worried about revealing too soon when Waititi was asked to come in for Thor: Ragnarok.

“Funny enough, when his name came up as the potential director for Thor: Ragnarok, I called Taika, and I was like, ‘Do we admit that we know each other? Or do we let it be their idea?’ And Taika said, ‘Let it be their idea.'”

When Marvel pitched the idea to Waititi, he was coming off of a trip for his 40th birthday party, and friends and family were planning to head back to New Zealand. To help with space, Waititi put some of his stuff in suitcases that he gave to his friends, and one of those things was his passport — you know, the very thing he needed to travel to pitch an idea to Marvel. 

“I said to my agent, well, look — this is the universe telling me don’t bother with this Thor film. It’s never, you know, it wasn’t mean to be. My agent said ‘Screw the universe. Go to the airport and just get on the plane.'”

He explained that the phone call happened on Sunday night and his meeting was Monday morning, so he went to the airport, and all he had was his New Zealand driver’s license which, as Waititi said, looked like something out of a cereal box. The attendants at the airport almost laughed at him for trying to use it.

You can call it luck or Disney magic, but when asked if he had anything else to prove his identity, Waititi pulled out a script that confirmed him as the first writer on Disney’s Moana. The film just so happened to be a hit with those at the airport. 

Moana helped Waititi make it on that plane; the rest is history. He made Thor fun again, not just for audiences but for Hemsworth himself, and he’s a big reason that we’ve still got a story to tell with our favorite hero. 

You can see Thor: Love and Thunder in theaters on July 8 and enjoy the dynamic duo that is Waititi and Hemsworth as Korg and Thor — the heroic bromance we’ve always adored.