“Thor: Love And Thunder” is the latest blockbuster film based on the Marvel Comics universe. The movie is directed by Taika Waititi, a noted rock and metal fan. Recently, Waititi was interviewed by Louder about his love of the genres and how it has influenced his work. “Thor: Love And Thunder” features songs by Guns N’ Roses and Dio, and Waititi gave a detailed look into his metal fandom.
“I listened to everything,” he said. “But at an early age I was like very much into like, AC/DC and then Guns N’ Roses. And then, you remember that mash-up with Public Enemy and Anthrax? I was already a massive fan of Public Enemy and Metallica…in the early 90s, when I was at school, basically, those are the two music genres I would listen to, just metal and rap. And so that was, sort of, like the soundtrack to my childhood.”
Guns N’ Roses is featured prominently in the film with multiple songs. “You know, I still go home late at night and instead of going on, you know, Pornhub, I’ll go and watch old GN’R music videos because I just loved the band. But I think I’m still in love with the band back when there was the band, you know, that band: Paradise City music video, like that stuff when the hair was long and it had been brushed, you know?”
Waititi, who said he comes from an indie film background, shared his excitement that he was able to use so many Guns N’ Roses songs for pivotal moments in the film. “’November Rain,’ when we started, we always knew wanted that battle scene moment while that was playing. Then one of our guys was, like, ‘Don’t you think we need more songs?’ And I come from an independent film background, and if you get, you know, 10 seconds of a famous song you’re lucky. And then it was like, ‘We should have more Guns N’ Roses songs! We’re gonna have one Guns N’ Roses song and a [character] called Axl…do you think we need like another three?!”
Waititi also said Thor’s look out of armor is a tribute to Kurt Russell’s character in “Big Trouble In Little China.” Scenes from “Mad Max” also inspired a battle in the film set to “Welcome To The Jungle.” “Well, that’s a nod to Jack Burton, Kurt Russell’s character in ‘Big Trouble In Little China,’” he said of Thor when he’s not dressed a superhero.
“And the aliens he’s fighting in that battle were based on ‘Mad Max,’ the original movie. And getting to use ‘Welcome To The Jungle’ in that scene was just awesome, man. It was like, so cool to be able to do that. I kind of have a feeling that I’ve ruined a lot of songs for myself by putting them in my films. It’s very hard for me to hear (David Bowie’s) ‘Heroes’ now after putting it in the end of ‘JoJo Rabbit.’ It came on the radio when I was driving the other day. I was like, ‘I gotta change this’. It’s changed it for me forever. (Led Zeppelin’s) ‘Immigrant Song’ is the same after using it in [Thor] Ragnarok; that song just takes me back to Thor now.”
