If there’s one director who can turn anything into movie magic, it’s New Zealand born Taika Waititi.
The Oscar winner, who was the first indigenous New Zealander to receive a golden statue, is set to direct a new Star Wars movie for theatrical release.
Announced by Disney and LucasFilms on May 4 (of course), the director will also pen the script alongside 1917 writer Krysty Wilson-Cairn.
At the same time, the studio also confirmed that a female-driven TV Series based on Star Wars was also in the works, created by Leslye Headland (Russian Doll).
Rumours began to swirl that Waititi would direct a Star Wars film and after he directed the season finale of The Mandalorian for Disney+, it seemed like a done deal.
However, in an interview with US publication Variety after his Academy Award win back in February, the 44-year-old remained coy on the subject.
“Are there discussions about the ‘Star Wars’ film? Like, yeah, I discussed with my friends in 1996 how cool ‘Star Wars’ was,” he joked.
“I think people see me hanging out with people, especially with ‘Star Wars,’ and think I’m having some big discussions about it. I would f—ing love to.…If it was right. I would want to do any kind of movie if it made sense, and if it felt not like career suicide.”
Taking to his Instagram overnight, Waititi captioned a post: “Guess it wasn’t a rumour after all. Psyyyych!”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B_x62CODOjk/
Next, Waititi is set to direct Thor: Love and Thunder for Disney’s Marvel Studios starring Australian star Chris Hemsworth, which is scheduled for a February 2022 release.
Waititi is also in the process of writing, directing and executive producing two new projects for Netflix — two new animated series, one being based on the world of Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and the other, based on the Oompa Loompa’s.
“The shows will retain the quintessential spirit and tone of the original story while building out the world and characters far beyond the pages of the Dahl book for the very first time,” Netflix announced in February.
According to the streaming service, this move marks the beginning of a partnership between The Roald Dahl Story Company and will reimagine all of his classics, including Matilda, The BFG and The Twits.