10 Current Directors Who Just Can't Seem To Miss
5. Taika Waititi
Filmography: Boy, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok, Jojo Rabbit
When Marvel announced that they were handing the keys to the Thor franchise to the idiosyncratic New Zealander best known for his literally biting vampire mockumentary What We Do in the Shadows, plenty of people wondered just how such a voice would function inside the Disney-owned movie machine. They needn't have worried - though the filmmaker made some concessions to the wider template, he still brought a creative flair and zaniness out that saw him reinvent the series.
That was just the latest in a string of cast-iron hits for Waititi, who had already struck gold with Boy and Hunt for the Wilderpeople in his home country, either side of What We Do in the Shadows. His most recent effort Jojo Rabbit is actually his least acclaimed of the lot - but that didn't stop him picking up an Oscar for his efforts on it.
His next feature, Next Goal Wins, follows the American Samoa national football team's attempts to reach the 2014 FIFA World Cup, and lands in the coming months, before he returns to the Marvel Cinematic Universe to helm Thor: Love and Thunder. He's strengthened his ties with Disney too and directed an episode of their Star Wars series The Mandalorian last year.