There are plenty of actors who double as filmmakers that hand themselves roles either big or small on-camera, but few have proven to split opinion quite like Taika Waititi‘s contributions to the Marvel Cinematic Universe, or even the prospect of his in-development Star Wars movie.
Whereas the Academy Award-winner’s Korg was fantastic comic relief in Ragnarok, there was a widespread belief he’d taken up a little too much screentime in last summer’s sequel, with his signature comic stylings quickly becoming grating. In addition, reports claiming he was also planning to play a substantial part in his Star Wars flick led to much derision and eye-rolling, but he doesn’t care.
Obviously, Waititi has made a point of acting in many of his own projects outside of the Disney-backed behemoths, but he isn’t shy in admitting the reasons why he loves to step into the limelight so much in an interview with The Hollywood Reporter.
“I’ll try and find a way to put myself in anything because it’s what I do, I love myself. I’m trying to make this Taika universe.”
As self-deprecating as he’s being, it’s not exactly a million miles away from the truth, either. You need to have plenty of confidence that borders on arrogance to make in Hollywood, and the widely-acclaimed but equally polarizing writer, director, actor, and producer has the stuff in spades.
We’ll wait and see how it pans out in regards to Star Wars, but we all saw how Love and Thunder was greeted by the MCU faithful, so maybe it won’t prove to be the most beneficial approach in the long run.
