Taika Waititi drops truth bomb about Indigenous stories
'Thor: Ragnarok' director Taika Waititi commented on Indigenous stories often portrayed in Hollywood
February 09, 2025
Taika Waititi stayed true to his style and mixed some humor with meaningful statements in his acceptance speech for the Norman Lear Achievement Award on Saturday at the Producers Guild Awards for his work in television.
The Thor filmmaker thanked his partners at Reservation Dogs and What We Do in the Shadows.
“Thank you so much for believing in Indigenous stories and believing they could be more than just brown people standing on a mountain playing a flute and talking to ancestors,” he said.
The filmmaker then jokingly confessed to not knowing what he’s doing as a filmmaker.
“None of us do,” Waititi remarked. “You don’t. I’ve seen all your stuff. You don’t know what you’re doing. None of us do and that’s what makes it fun.”
“So continue to have fun because this isn’t really a real job. One day they will find out and they’ll come for us,” he added.
Taika Waititi then shared that his mom exposed him to television at a young age.
“My original babysitter. Probably my real mum. Think about it, the ‘80s, television raised me and it fed me on CHiPs and Benson and MASH. And now I get to create stories that do the same thing for a whole new generation of kids being ignored by their parents.”
