Taika David CohenONZM (born 16 August 1975), known professionally as Taika Waititi (/ˈtaɪkəˈwaɪtɪti/TY-kə WY-tee-tee),[1] is a New Zealand filmmaker, actor and comedian. He is known for directing quirky comedy films and has expanded his career as a voice actor and producer on numerous projects. He has received numerous accolades including an Academy Award, a BAFTA Award and a Grammy Award. Time magazine named him one of the 100 most influential people in the world in 2022.
His father was an artist of Te Whānau-ā-Apanui descent, while his mother, Robin Cohen,[10] was a schoolteacher of multiple ethnicities.[11] His mother's paternal grandfather was a Russian Jew whose family came from Novozybkov, Russia.[7] Waititi stated that his mother's family were Russian Jewish, Irish, and other European ethnicities, while his father's side was "Māori and a little bit of French Canadian".[12] His paternal grandfather, also named Taika, served as a Māori Battalion soldier during World War II.[13]
Identifying as both Māori and Jewish, Waititi describes himself as a "Polynesian Jew".[14][15] He was raised more connected to his Māori roots, in a household where Judaism was not actively practised[13] and identifies as an atheist who "puts more stock in indigenous beliefs."[16]
Although his surname is legally Cohen, Waititi has been known primarily by his father's surname for most of his life.[5][6] He originally used his mother's surname, Cohen, for his work in film and writing, and his father's, Waititi, for visual arts endeavours.[4][20] Following the success of his first short film, he continued to use Waititi professionally.[21]
He and Jemaine Clement, as the comedy duo The Humourbeasts, received New Zealand's highest comedy accolade, the Billy T Award, in 1999.[23] Among a variety of artistic interests, Waititi began making comical short films for New Zealand's annual 48Hours film contest.[24] He directed the short film Two Cars, One Night (2003) which involves two young boys and a girl meeting in the carpark of a rural pub in Te Kaha, New Zealand. The short earned acclaim and was nominated for the Academy Award for Best Live Action Short in 2005.[25] (It lost the award to the short Wasp (2003).)
His first feature film was a romantic comedy, Eagle vs Shark. It was released in US theatres for limited distribution in 2007.[26] Waititi co-wrote the film with Loren Horsley.[27] That year, Waititi wrote and directed one episode of the TV show Flight of the Conchords and directed another.[28] In 2010, he acted in the New Zealand TV3 improv sketch comedy show Radiradirah, together with frequent collaborators Rhys Darby and Jemaine Clement.[29] His second feature, Boy, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2010,[30] and was nominated for the Grand Jury Prize. Waititi also took one of the main roles, as the ex-con father who returns to his family. On its release in New Zealand, Boy received enthusiastic reviews[31] and was successful at the local box office, eclipsing several records.[32]
In 2013, Waititi co-wrote, co-directed and acted in the vampire comedy mockumentaryWhat We Do in the Shadows with Clement.[35] It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January 2014.[36] Waititi and Clement played members of a group of vampires who live in an appropriately gothic house in modern-day Wellington.[37] A television adaptation of the film was commissioned in May 2018, with Waititi as an executive producer and director.[38] The series of the same name premiered on FX in March 2019;[39] its second season received a Primetime Emmy Award nomination for Outstanding Comedy Series.[40]
Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016)
Waititi's fourth feature, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, premiered at the 2016 Sundance Film Festival.[41] When it was released in New Zealand, the comedy adventure broke Waititi's record for a New Zealand film in its opening weekend.[42] Based on a book by Barry Crump, it centres on a young boy (played by Julian Dennison) and a grumpy man (played by Sam Neill) on the run in the wilderness. Waititi wrote the initial screenplay for the 2016 Disney film Moana,[43] which focused on gender and family. Those elements were passed over in favour of what became the final story.[44][45]
Marvel films
In 2017, Waititi won the award for New Zealander of the Year, but was unable to receive it in person due to work commitments.[46] That year, he directed his first major studio film, Marvel Studios's Thor: Ragnarok, which was released in October.[47][48] He also portrayed the alien Korg via motion capture in the film.[49] He had previously directed a short film series for Marvel called Team Thor, chronicling the lives of Thor and his roommate, Darryl Jacobson.[50]Thor: Ragnarok earned critical praise and was successful at the box office.[51][52] Waititi was later consulted by Christopher Markus and Stephen McFeely on Thor's storylines for Avengers: Infinity War, to maintain the character's consistency in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.[53][54]
In 2019, Waititi wrote and directed Jojo Rabbit, based on the book Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, the 1940s-set story of a child in the Hitler Youth whose mother is secretly hiding a Jewish girl in their home. Waititi plays a buffoonish version of Adolf Hitler as the boy's imaginary friend.[55] Waititi received Academy Award nominations for Best Picture and Best Adapted Screenplay. He won the latter,[56][57] making him the first person of Māori descent to win an Academy Award in a screenplay category, and the first indigenous person to be nominated for and win Best Adapted Screenplay.[58] In 2021 he won the Grammy Award for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media as a producer of the Jojo Rabbit soundtrack.[59]
He wrote and directed the superhero film Thor: Love and Thunder, a sequel to Thor: Ragnarok.[73] It released in July 2022.[74] The film received mixed reviews with critic Mark Kermode complained that "the jokes, the catch-phrases [are] just incredibly tired".[75]Richard Brody of The New Yorker described the film writing "The film passes through the nervous system without delivering any sustenance or even leaving a residue."[76] In her mixed review from NPR, Amy Nicholson added "I was really compelled by the ideas Taika Waititi was teasing in this film, but the actual style of it – the eagerness to please – made me take a step back from everything. [But] what he's discussing is really smart."[77]
In 2017, Waititi stated he was working on a sequel to What We Do In The Shadows titled We're Wolves.[84] As of 2023, there have been no updates on the project. That same year, Taika Waititi entered talks to direct a live-action film adaptation of Akira.[85] He was officially confirmed as director and co-writer with Michael Golamco in 2019, with a release date of 21 May 2021.[86] However, the film's production has been on hold due to Waititi's commitments to other projects such as Thor: Love and Thunder.[87] Despite development issues, Waititi has stated that he fully intends on making the film.[88]
In 2019, it was announced that Waititi would direct an animated Flash Gordon movie for 20th Century Studios.[89] Though in 2021, it was revealed that the movie is now live action.[90] The same year, it was announced that Waititi would direct and co-write the pilot episode of a television adaptation of the Terry Gilliam film, Time Bandits. Waititi co-wrote the pilot alongside frequent collaborators Jemaine Clement and Iain Morris.[91]
In 2020, Waititi was announced to be attached to write, direct and executive produce two animated series for Netflix based on Roald Dahl's children's novel Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel, one adapting the novels and the other focused on the novel's Oompa Loompa characters.[92] In 2021, it was announced that Waititi would executive produce and direct the Showtime limited series The Auteur starring Jude Law.[93] The same year, it was announced that Waititi would adapt The Incal into a feature film.[94] In 2022, Waititi was set to direct the pilot and executive produce a television adaptation of the Charles Yu novel, Interior Chinatown, with Jimmy O. Yang set to star.[95] In 2023, it was announced that he would direct a film adaptation of the novel Klara and the Sun, intending on making it his next movie after Next Goal Wins.[96]
After rumors began circulating in late 2019 and early 2020, it was officially announced on May 4, 2020 that Taika Waititi would direct and co-write a Star Wars movie with Krysty Wilson-Cairns.[97] In 2022, Kathleen Kennedy stated that the film would most likely come out before Patty Jenkins' Rogue Squadron.[98] In 2023, reports stated that Waititi was looking to star in the film.[99] The next month, Kennedy stated that Waititi's film is still in development and that he was now writing the film alone.[100] The film was reported to start filming in 2024.[101]
Personal life
Waititi was in a relationship with New Zealand actress and writer Loren Horsley for ten years. She co-wrote and acted in his directorial debut, Eagle vs Shark.[27]
He met New Zealand film producer Chelsea Winstanley in 2010. They got married in 2011; together, they have two daughters, Te Hinekahu and Matewa Kiritapu. Waititi and Winstanley quietly separated in 2018.[102]
Waititi incorporates his Māori and indigenous heritage into his projects, such as by including indigenous interns and having traditional owners conduct a Welcome to Country ceremony during the start of filming on set in Australia.[110] He is an executive producer of the New Zealand films The Breaker Upperers (2018), Baby Done (2020), and Night Raiders (2021), all directed by Māori or indigenous filmmakers.[73] In 2021, Waititi's cousin Tweedie Waititi, whom he considers a sibling,[111] began producing and directing Māori language versions of Disney animated films due to Waititi, which she does alongside his former partner Winstanley.[112] In 2023, Waititi was the executive producer on Frybread Face and Me, a film directed by Billy Luther.[113] In 2024, Waititi served as executive producer on We Were Dangerous directed by Josephine Stewart-Te Whiu.[114]
Below is a table outlining Waititi's numerous collaborations. Waititi and Clement also worked together on television series Radiradirah and Clement has a voice role in Moana, a film for which Waititi wrote the initial screenplay. House also has a voice role in Moana, and had a minor role in Jojo Rabbit which was ultimately cut from the film.[115] Darby and Waititi also worked together on television series Radiradirah.
^ abCampbell, Gordon (23 January 2004). "Taika Waititi". New Zealand Listener. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020. "Cohen" is the name on his birth certificate and "Waititi" is his father's surname, but his current choice of surname doesn't signal a shift in identity.
^ ab"The Film Programme: Taika Waititi". BBC Online. 2 January 2020. Archived from the original on 12 February 2020. Retrieved 12 February 2020. [Cohen] is still my name. It's actually the name on my passport and driver's licence and everything.
^ ab"Te Ahi Kaa". Radio New Zealand. 22 May 2011. Archived from the original on 13 February 2020. Retrieved 13 February 2020. His dad and I always had agreed that when Taika was, before he was born, that if he arrived looking like a Pākehā we'd name him after my dad and his Māori grandfather would–his name would be second, and if he arrived as a Māori then we would reverse it and he, of course, we know what he looks like, so he's Taika David.
^ abBannister, Matthew (2021). Eye of the Taika: New Zealand comedy and the films of Taika Waititi. Detroit: Wayne State University Press. p. 23. ISBN9780814345320.
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