Eight years removed from Thor: The Dark World and it’s almost like the movie didn’t even happen. Frequently thought of as one of the lesser entries in the Marvel Cinematic Universe, even though it continues to be referenced and will no doubt tie into the upcoming Thor: Love and Thunder, the film had well publicized problems behind-the-scenes. After director Patty Jenkins departed the project, Game of Thrones director Alan Taylor was brought in to shoot the film, himself reportedly locked out of the editing bay when the film was being cut together. Speaking in a new interview Taylor opened up about “his version” that no one will ever see.
“The version I had started off with had more childlike wonder; there was this imagery of children, which started the whole thing,” the director told The Hollywood Reporter about the “Taylor Cut,” which no fan campaign will ever get released. “There was a slightly more magical quality. There was weird stuff going on back on Earth because of the convergence that allowed for some of these magical realism things. And there were major plot differences that were inverted in the cutting room and with additional photography — people [such as Loki] who had died were not dead, people who had broken up were back together again. I think I would like my version.”
Taylor opened up to the outlet about the circumstances of being hired for the film as well, saying he was brought on to ‘bring some Game of Thrones‘ to the sequel after Marvel Studios decided they wanted a darker follow-up to Kenneth Branagh’s 2011 movie.
“[Marvel president] Kevin Feige was always smart about looking at what worked and didn’t in the last iteration and trying to retool from that,” Taylor said.
Though he had an extensive resume in television up to that point, Taylor found himself back behind the camera for another major movie almost immediately after Thor: The Dark World, sitting in the director’s chair for Terminator: Genisys. The critical lashing that these back-to-back projects brought on Taylor however brought him into a depression.
“I had lost the will to make movies,” Taylor told the trade. “I lost the will to live as a director. I’m not blaming any person for that. The process was not good for me. So I came out of it having to rediscover the joy of filmmaking.”
Taylor returned to directing television afterward, directing the penultimate episode of Game of Thrones‘ seventh season as well as Amazon Prime Video’s Electric Dreams. He’ll be back on the big screen soon though having directed The Sopranos-prequel film, The Many Saints of Newark, due out in theaters this October.
