Taika Waititi on the Women of Thor: Ragnarok and Disney’s Moana

Jill Pantozzi | June 24th, 2016

Taika Waititi is directing Thor: Ragnarok for Marvel which was recently confirmed to include Cate Blanchett as villainous Hela and Tessa Thompson as hero Valkyrie. He was also a writer on Disney’s upcoming animated film Moana featuring a Polynesian Princess. He recently spoke about both and said some things we like to hear.

In a really great interview with The Daily Beast where he also discusses his New Zealand heritage and his new film Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Waititi spoke a bit about Thor: Ragnarok’s cast.

“Everyone’s aware of the need [for POC casting] and also the need for female characters,” Waititi said. “But female representation is something I feel is even still behind in the conversation about representation. It’s something that’s equally important to my mind. So it’s great having female heroes.

“This film has [Marvel’s] first female villain, and that’s exciting for me,” he continued. “I want to see more females onscreen and not just dudes. There’s nothing wrong with that, but there’s a lot of it in the world. We need more representation of all kinds. In all seriousness, from what I’ve seen—although it’s not like I’ve been around a lot of studios—they are aware of it, and they’re very conscious and vocal. I’ve heard people say, ‘We need to make them better.’”

Now of course Guardians of the Galaxy’s Nebula was certainly a villain (and we were this close to one in Iron Man 3) but Hela will be the first prime antagonist for our Marvel heroes who is a woman.

Waititi, one of the screenwriters of Moana, also spoke a bit on the diverse lead of the film:

“When I worked with Disney on Moana they were definitely proud of it, and everyone right from the beginning knew it was going to be a female character,” said Waititi, who left the project to helm his sublime vampire comedy What We Do in the Shadows. “That’s so cool. I really liked the idea of trying to do something with Pacific Island cultures even though it’s Disney, and there’s a part of you that’s like, well, how are we going to do this? I hope they do a good job. I’ve got high hopes.”

So do I.