Hollywood now has a perverse tradition of hooking up with indie directors of small films and throwing them into the industrial machine of superhero production. It is perhaps the weirdest mix of art and commerce in the history of cinema.
The poster adult for this is Taika Waititi, the king of small NZ films and also a prince of the Thor franchise. But the latest version feels especially improbable because Chloe Zhao is just coming off her high for winning bulk Oscars for the teeny half-amateur quasi-hippy old people’s road movie Nomadland, which doesn’t even have a Hollywood ending.
