Marvel originally hired Patty Jenkins to direct Thor: The Dark World, following her Oscar-winning movie Monster starring Charlize Theron. However, Jenkins dropped out just three months after joining the project, citing “creative differences.” But now, years later, Jenkins is speaking more about why she quit the movie, and it’s now plain to see why did not want to be a part of it.
She told Vanity Fair that she was wary to direct the movie because the script wasn’t good enough. She feared that, if the movie was a dud, people would blame her.
“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,” Jenkins said. “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. And maybe they’ll understand it and love it more than I do.”
Jenkins added: “You can’t do movies you don’t believe in.”
After parting ways with Jenkins, Marvel hired Game of Thrones and The Sopranos veteran Alan Taylor to direct Thor: The Dark World. The movie was written by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely, who also wrote the final Avengers films, alongside Christopher Yost, who would go on to write Thor: Ragnarok.
Jenkins did get another shot in the superhero movie space with 2017’s Wonder Woman, of course, and this movie was an enormous critical and commercial success. She said in the interview that she has “nothing but positive things to say about Marvel,” in part because they gave her the chance in the first place. Jenkins also mentioned that Thor has finally found its “rightful director” in Taika Waititi, who directed Thor: Ragnarok and is also attached to direct Thor: Love and Thunder.
Jenkins directed Wonder Woman 1984, which was scheduled for an early June premiere before Warner Bros. delayed the movie to August due to the COVID-19 crisis.
