Since Zack Snyder got to take something of a victory lap with last year’s Zack Snyder’s Justice League, and even when it was still just something for very devoted fans to ceaselessly hope for, there’s been a question of if we’ll get more director’s and extended cuts of big budget films. Surprisingly, Marvel movies have never gotten in on this across their many films; even the bigger touchstones like Black Panther or Avengers: Endgame just have their original theatrical versions. While the question doesn’t come up much for the various MCU directors, Taika Waititi made his position on the matter clear: yeahhhhhhhhh, no.
In an interview with NME, Waititi was asked if there’s possibly a ‘Waititi Cut’ version of this weekend’s Thor: Love & Thunder that could ever be unearthed. Not only did he shoot it down, he flat out said, “They suck. Director’s cuts are not good, and directors need to be controlled sometimes.” He believed that creating a four-and-a-half hour movie just wouldn’t be worth watching compared to a tighter, shorter film. And having watched “a lot” of director’s cuts of films, he’s found that the high of creating a three or four-hour cut quickly goes away.
“You get into the edit,” continued Waititi, “You’re like, ‘I still kind of like it.’ And then, after about six months of it being in the movie, you realise it was fun on the day but it doesn’t have any business being in the movie.” In an interview with Collider, Waititi and Chris Hemsworth said that four-hour assembly cut was “batshit crazy” like a Monty Python sketch, but were quick to add that isn’t the praise it sounds like. “About five times, it just gives up on the story and just like just for like 10, 15 minutes of just telling jokes.”
While Waititi’s made his feelings on director’s cuts pretty clear, it sounds like he doesn’t want to approach even the idea of just making an extended version of Love & Thunder. When asked by Collider about that, he bluntly called it “so tiring…Last thing I want to go is like, “I guess I have to try that scene again.” The film has got a strong structure now.” Guess fans will just have to make do with the deleted scenes during the home release in a couple of months.
Thor: Love & Thunder is in theatres now.
[via IGN]
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