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Taika Waititi Forgot Natalie Portman Was In Prequels As He Asked Her To Be In His Star Wars Movie

Home> Film & TV

Published 13:50 6 Jul 2022 GMT+1

Taika Waititi Forgot Natalie Portman Was In Prequels As He Asked Her To Be In His Star Wars Movie

Taika Waititi asked Natalie Portman if she'd like to be in a Star Wars movie, forgetting she'd starred in the franchise already.

Shola Lee

Shola Lee

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Featured Image Credit: Alamy / Lucasfilm

Topics: Celebrity, Film and TV, Marvel, Taika Waititi

Shola Lee
Shola Lee

Shola Lee began her journalism career while studying for her undergraduate degree at Queen Mary, University of London and Columbia University in New York. She has written for the Columbia Spectator, QM Global Bloggers, CUB Magazine, UniDays, and Warner Brothers' Wizarding World Digital. Recently, Shola took part in the 2021 BAFTA Crew and BBC New Creatives programme before becoming a journalist at UNILAD, where she works on breaking news, trending stories, and features.

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Director Taika Waititi recently revealed an embarassing blunder he's probably rather forget – asking Natalie Portman if she'd like to be in a Star Wars movie, forgetting she'd starred in the franchise already.

Yep, while it's hard for us to forget Portman's role as Padmé, largely because we spent the better part of the 2000s obsessed with her hair, it seems Waititi straight up forgot.

The revelation came as the director was discussing his new film Thor: Love and Thunder, which stars Portman as The Mighty Thor.

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Talking about the highly anticipated film, Waititi told Rolling Stone: "Basically I was like, a lot of fans miss Jane Foster, and people want to see her again. It just seemed like the perfect opportunity, because the character was so great in the Jason Aaron run of Thor."

For those not super clued into the MCU, Jane Foster, played by Portman in the new film, was introduced as a love interest for Thor in 2011's film of the same name, and fans were eager to see her back.

"Kevin [Feige] was already like, 'I’d love to try and figure out a way to bring Mighty Thor into this film and bring Natalie back'. It didn’t take much convincing."

With a big bodily transformation followed an equally big reaction with dozens of comments from people weighing in on Portman's new physique.
Marvel/Walt Disney

However, Portman hadn't heard about The Mighty Thor run of comics, so Taika sent her copies to explain the story.

The rest is now Marvel history, with Portman joining the cast for the new movie.

Although she was on board, while they were talking the actor asked Waititi what was next for him after taking on such a big project.

The director replied: "I’m trying to work on a Star Wars thing. Have you ever wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?"

At this point the Oscar-winner laughed and said, "I’ve been in Star Wars movies."

Waititi said he 'forgot about those ones'.

Still, we imagine Portman's willing to sidestep that little transgression, as the reviews for the pair's new film are pretty off the charts.

Taika Waititi.
Shutterstock

Fans and critics alike have been praising the follow-up to Thor: Ragnarok.

Having caught preview screenings, journalist Rachel Leishman praised the film after catching the premiere: "Thor: Love and Thunder is the perfect blend of Taika at his best with comedy and a punch to the gut all in one. I left this movie emotionally satisfied while also sobbing and just perfection."

With another, Caitlin Tyrrell, added: "Balancing absolutely bombastic insanity with moving character-driven stories."

Hopefully, the success of the new film with drown out the Star Wars comment. 

If you have a story you want to tell, send it to UNILAD via [email protected]  




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