Much of the conversation surrounding Fox Searchlight’s upcoming Oscar contender “Jojo Rabbit” has centered on writer-director Taika Waititi starring in the film as an imaginary version of Adolf Hitler, but it turns out that was a part the filmmaker never intended to play himself. In a new interview with Business Insider, Waititi reveals it was Fox Searchlight that demanded he take on Hitler.
All Waititi knew about the Hitler role when writing the “Jojo Rabbit” script was that he did not want to cast an A-list movie actor like Brad Pitt out of fear a high profile star in the role would dominate headlines. Fox Searchlight executives fell in love with Waititi’s script and told him, “We’re only interested if you play Hitler.” Wapiti’s response to that now: “[It] was lunacy to me.”
Fox Searchlight eventually made a successful pitch to Waititi to appear in front of the camera as well.
All Waititi knew about the Hitler role when writing the “Jojo Rabbit” script was that he did not want to cast an A-list movie actor like Brad Pitt out of fear a high profile star in the role would dominate headlines. Fox Searchlight executives fell in love with Waititi’s script and told him, “We’re only interested if you play Hitler.” Wapiti’s response to that now: “[It] was lunacy to me.”
Fox Searchlight eventually made a successful pitch to Waititi to appear in front of the camera as well.
- 10/14/2019
- by Zack Sharf
- Indiewire
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