Taika Waititi, director ofThor: Love and Thunder,recently revealed that he slipped up big time when discussingStar Warswith actress Natalie Portman, who plays Jane Foster in the upcoming Marvel Studios film.
BeforeThor: Love and Thunder, Portman starred in all three chapters of George Lucas' often divisiveStar Warsprequel trilogy. She played the character Padmé Amidala, the sovereign Queen of the Naboo who would go on to represent her planet and people in the Galactic Senate. She was also the primary love interest of a young Anakin Skywalker (Hayden Christensen) before he become Darth Vader. Tragically, Padmé died in the third prequel movie,Star Wars: Episode III - Revenge of the Sith, after Anakin turned to the dark side of the force, but not before she gave birth to their twin children, Luke and Leia.
RELATED:Natalie Portman Only Needed Help With One Thing To Become Mighty Thor
In an interview withRolling StoneWaititi revealed that during theproduction ofThor: Love Thunder, the Kiwi filmmaker asked Portman about potentially working together again. In the interview, Waititi explains, “She said to me, ‘What are you up to next?’ I said, ‘Oh, I’m trying to work on aStar Warsthing. Have you ever wanted to be in aStar Warsmovie?'” According to Waititi, he forgot about Portman’s role in the prequel trilogy, and after Portman explained that she’d already been in aStar Warsmovie, the director quickly replied, “…should we do another take?'”
While it’s pretty funny that Waititi forgot about Portman’s role in the prequel trilogy, it certainly speaks to the amount of time that’s passed since those films came out, and to the often diminished role that Padmé plays. It’s hard to believe but theStar Warsprequels came out over twenty years ago, with the first of the series,Star Wars: Episode I -The Phantom Menace, premiering in 1999 when Portman was only sixteen-years-old. Even though Portman portrayed Padmé in all three films, the character is often overlooked when compared to the film’s other leads such as Anakin and Obi-Wan Kenobi (Ewan McGregor). While it’s easy to be overshadowed by two Jedi knights, Padmé played an extremely important role in the prequel trilogy and has been consistently shown to be highly capable and extremely intelligent in extendedStar Warscontent such as the animated seriesStar Wars: The Clone Warsand in novels likeStar Wars: Queen’s Shadow.
It should also be noted that the 46-year-old Waititi is of the generation that grew up with the original trilogy, so he may not be as fond of the prequels as some younger fans. Regardless, it would be nice to see Waititi and Portman work together again afterLove and Thunder,but it probably won’t be foraStar Warsproject.
Thor: Love and Thunderwill be released in theaters on July 8th, 2022.
