Marvel director Taika Waititi forced to direct Thor sequel because he was ‘poor’-Aisha Nozari-Entertainment – Metro

Taika Waititi got real about the reason he joined the MCU (Picture: Jordan Strauss/Invision/AP)

Taika Waititi has revealed that the only reason he hopped aboard the Marvel train was because he was struggling financially and needed to feed his children.

The Oscar-winning filmmaker, 48, signed onto direct 2017’s Thor: Ragnorak shortly after the birth of his second child.

Although Taika is now married to hitmaker Rita Ora, he shares two children with his first wife, Chelsea Winstanley, who he was married to between 2011 and 2018.

While Taika’s first Thor film was met with critical acclaim, the second Thor movie he made with lead Chris Hemsworth wasn’t received as well.

Speaking on a recent episode of the Smartless podcast, Taika said of joining the MCU: ‘I had no interest in doing one of those films.’

He went on: ‘It wasn’t on my plan for my career as an auteur. But I was poor and I’d just had a second child, and I thought, “You know what, this would be a great opportunity to feed these children”.’

The Oscar-winning filmmaker, 48, signed onto direct 2017’s Thor: Ragnorak shortly after the birth of his second child (Picture: Loredana Sangiuliano/SOPA Images/Shutterstock)

Taika’s first Thor racked up an eye-watering $853million (£675million) at the global box office while his second made $760million (£601million).

It comes after Taika made it clear his chances of directing another Thor film are slim.

Taika is now married to Rita Ora (Picture: Getty)

Speaking to Business Insider, the director explained that his schedule is pretty jam-packed for the foreseeable future.

‘I know that I won’t be involved,’ he said, adding: ‘I’m going to concentrate on these other films that I’ve signed on for… But I love Marvel, I love working with them. I love Chris.’

Thor star Chris Hemsworth, 40, has also addressed his return to the Marvel character (Picture: Alamy Stock Photo)

Taika also noted the next few features he’s in the pipeline will take up ‘six or seven’ years of his life.

Thor star Chris, 40, has also addressed his return to the Marvel character.

Speaking to Entertainment Weekly in June, the A-lister shared: ‘I don’t want to continue to do it until people are so exhausted that they roll their eyes when they see me come on the screen as that character.’

However, Chris did note: ‘If an audience wants to see it, and if there’s something that we believe is exciting and fun, then great.’

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