Taika Waititi nearly missed the chance to direct Thor: Ragnarok thanks to the TSA

Dealing with the TSA isn’t always the most pleasant experience, but it turns out that a run-in with the TSA nearly kept Taika Waititi from directing Thor: Ragnarok.

In an excerpt from The Story of Marvel Studios (via /Film) by Tara Bennett and Paul Terry, it was revealed that Taika Waititi was one of several directors hoping to helm Thor: Ragnarok. Waititi was in Hawaii and needed to get back to Los Angeles as soon as possible in order to pitch Marvel’s Kevin Feige on his concept, but unfortunately, he had already sent some of his luggage back to New Zealand and one of those bags included his passport. With no passport, the director wasn’t sure how he was going to get to Los Angles, but thankfully, his work on Disney’s Moana was able to help him get past security.

While rooting through the luggage he was taking to Los Angeles, trying to find any kind of identification, Waititi found a visa letter from The Walt Disney Company for the writing work he did on “Moana.” (He wrote the first draft of the script.) He showed the TSA agents at the gate the letter and explained that his passport was currently somewhere over the Pacific. The agents had heard of “Moana,” and excitedly corroborated Waititi’s identity. He was able to make his flight after all, to the eventual joy of “Thor” fans everywhere. 

As someone who didn’t exactly love Thor and Thor: The Dark World, Thor: Ragnarok felt like a breath of fresh air, and I’m hugely excited to see what Taika Waititi does with Thor: Love and Thunder. As for what Waititi’s original pitch consisted of, he cut together a sizzle reel set to Led Zeppelin’s Immigrant Song that included footage from Big Trouble in Little China, Superman: The Movie, Sixteen Candles, and Teenage Mutant Ninja Turtles.

The release of Thor: Love and Thunder was recently pushed back and the film will now hit theaters on July 8, 2022.