Thor: The Dark World is by far the worst entry in the Marvel Cinematic Universe and you’ll be hard pressed to find anyone who’ll argue that fact. The less said about it the better, but for Wonder Woman director Patty Jenkins, who was originally tapped to direct Thor: The Dark World for Marvel, she looks at the film as something of a dodged bullet.
Speaking of rubbish, the GOAT team talk about some of the stuff Scotty From Marketing has been saying on ‘It’s Been A Big Day For…’ below:
Chatting to Vanity Fair about her career, Patty Jenkins said that bailing on Marvel and Thor: The Dark World had been something of a blessing in disguise as she ended up directing the critically-acclaimed Wonder Woman and broke new ground for female directors in doing so.
As for why Patty left Thor: The Dark World, the official reason given at the time was the usual “creative differences” schtick Marvel likes to trot out. But according to Patty herself, it was because she not only thought the script was so rubbish that there simply was no way she could salvage a good movie out of it, she would’ve had to take all the criticism of the film being awful (which it was).
“I did not believe that I could make a good movie out of the script that they were planning on doing. I think it would have been a huge deal—it would have looked like it was my fault. It would’ve looked like, ‘Oh my God, this woman directed it and she missed all these things.’ That was the one time in my career where I really felt like, ‘Do this with [another director] and it’s not going to be a big deal.“
But more than just not being able to make the Thor: The Dark World script into a passable movie and the thought of being blamed for the film being crap, Patty Jenkins reflected how leaving Marvel instead of just sticking with it was ultimately the best decision she could’ve made as she never would’ve been given the keys to another big-budget blockbuster had The Dark World flopped.
“And maybe they’ll understand it and love it more than I do.’ You can’t do movies you don’t believe in. The only reason to do it would be to prove to people that I could. But it wouldn’t have proved anything if I didn’t succeed. I don’t think that I would have gotten another chance. And so, I’m super grateful.”
Look, that’s fair enough. If we go by how Hollywood historically has treated female directors, Patty Jenkins wouldn’t have been let anywhere near Wonder Woman (or any blockbuster) had she made a version of Thor: The Dark World that was similar to the one we got and we would’ve been robbed of a great female-led comic book movie, as well as taken a step back in the fight for more equality for female directors.
The decision to bail on Thor: The Dark World ultimately proved to be the right one for Patty Jenkins but she harbours no ill will towards Marvel, saying that she is grateful they gave her a “chance in the first place” and concedes that Taika Waititi is “Thor‘s rightful director.”
Unlike most Hollywood behind-the-scenes stories, this one turned out to be a win-win for everyone. Marvel eventually got the best director for their Thor movies, Patty Jenkins got to make the comic book movie she wanted, there’s still Wonder Woman 1984 still to come, and we got a bunch of great movies out of it.
Except Thor: The Dark World. That movie still sucked.
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