Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi thinks he ‘comes off as very gay’
Taika Waititi says he comes off gay because of his campy characters and eclectic fashion. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)
Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi has said that “he comes off gay”.
In an interview with Wired the award-winning filmmaker also said that people often assumed that he’s queer, making reference to his eclectic fashion sense and playing characters that have an edge of camp.
Waititi played a camp and cartoonish Adolf Hitler in his 2019 film JoJo Rabbit and he starred as a kind-hearted, often-foolish vampire in 2014 mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows. Waititi also stared in the quirky queer pirate series Our Flag Means Death playing Captain Blackbeard.
The director is divorced and shares a daughter with his ex-wife Chelsea Wistanley. Waititi has been in a relationship with singer Rita Ora, 31, since 2021, according to The Sun.
“They’ve been a couple since early March but kept things low key. However, all their friends know about the relationship,” a source said. “They’re really into each other.”
Rita Ora and Taika Waititi have been dating since early 2021. (Photo by Taylor Hill/WireImage)
In mid-2021, Taika Waititi was snapped having a three-way kiss with Thor: Love and Thunder star Tessa Thompson and Ora by the MailOnline.
When asked about the photos in an interview with Sydney Morning Herald, he simply said: “I was doing nothing wrong.”
He added: “In the world of the internet everything goes away pretty quick.”
While the director is not himself queer, he has been lauded with praise for the LGBTQ+ representation in his upcoming movie Thor: Love and Thunder.
In a 2020 interview with Variety he was asked if Thompson’s gorgeous superhero character Valkryie would be explicitly queer in the upcoming film. Waititi replied: “I think so.”
“The [intellectual property] is not mine,” he added. “But with the actors, I feel whatever makes them comfortable – whether they feel like there’s a natural choice, or a natural way for that character to go – then I’m pretty supportive.”
In 2019, Thompson told fans at the San Diego Comic-Con that Valkyrie’s “first order of business” would be looking for her own queer to sit alongside her and rule over Asgard – and added that she had some ideas.
Thor: Love and Thunder is out 8 June.
