Taika Waititi, director of Thor: Love and Thunder, recently revealed that he slipped up big time when discussing Star Wars with actress Natalie Portman, who plays Jane Foster in the upcoming Marvel Studios film.
Before Thor: Love and Thunder, Portman starred in all three chapters of George Lucas' often divisive Star Wars prequel 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.
In an interview with Rolling Stone Waititi revealed that during the production of Thor: 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 a Star Wars thing. Have you ever wanted to be in a Star Wars movie?'" According to Waititi, he forgot about Portman's role in the prequel trilogy, and after Portman explained that she'd already been in a Star Wars movie, 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 the Star Wars prequels 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 extended Star Wars content such as the animated series Star Wars: The Clone Wars and in novels like Star 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 after Love and Thunder, but it probably won't be for a Star Wars project.
Thor: Love and Thunder will be released in theaters on July 8th, 2022.
Source: Rolling Stone