Taika David Cohen ONZM (born 16 August 1975), also known as Taika Waititi (this surname belonging to his father and being adopted by Taika professionally), is a director, actor, producer, and screenwriter from New Zealand. He is of Māori (Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) and Russian Jewish heritage.
Graduating from Victoria University in Wellington, he originally worked primarily as a comedian and actor, and was one half of the comedy duo The Humourbeasts with Jemaine Clement. He also acted in local low-budget films and TV series, and in 2011 played a supporting role in the superhero film Green Lantern before later turning his full focus to directing and writing.
As a director, original works he's best known for include What We Do in the Shadows (which he wrote and directed alongside Jermaine Clement), Hunt for the Wilderpeople, and Jojo Rabbit, all of which he appears in as an actor. He also wrote the initial screenplay of Moana and has become a noted player in several big franchises, namely the Marvel Cinematic Universe (directing the third and fourth Thor films) and Star Wars (directing an episode for The Mandalorian, voicing the character IG-11 on the show, and currently being attached to write and direct a live-action film for the franchise).
He is also attached to various upcoming works, including a Live-Action Adaptation/Foreign Remake of AKIRA, two animated series for Netflix based on Roald Dahl's Charlie and the Chocolate Factory and its sequel, a film adaptation of The Incal, and a Flash Gordon film.
Waititi has won an Academy Award, a British Academy Film Award, a Grammy Award, and a Writers Guild of America Award (all of them for Jojo Rabbit).
He has accounts on Twitter
, Instagram and Facebook.
Selected filmography:
[ D = Director; W = Writer; P = Producer; A = Actor ]
- Two Cars, One Night (2003) DW note
- Eagle Vs Shark (2007) as Gordon DWA
- Boy (2010) as Alamein DWA
- Green Lantern (2011) as Thomas Kalmaku A
- What We Do in the Shadows (2014) as Viago DWPA note
- Hunt for the Wilderpeople (2016) as Minister DWPA
- Moana (2016) W* note
- Marvel Cinematic Universe (2017 — present) as various characters & filmmaker:
- Doctor Strange (2016) DW* note
- Thor: Ragnarok (2017) as Korg (voice and motion capture) and Surtur (motion capture) DA
- Team Thor (2016 — 2018) DWP
- Avengers: Endgame (2019) as Korg (voice and motion capture) A note
- What If...? (2021) as Korg (voice) A
- Thor: Love and Thunder (2022) as Korg (voice and motion capture) DWA
- Jojo Rabbit (2019) as Imaginary Adolf Hitler DWPA
- What We Do in the Shadows (2019 — present) as Viago DPA
- The Mandalorian (2019) as IG-11 (voice) & director note DA
- Home Movie: The Princess Bride (2020) as Westley A
- The Suicide Squad (2021) as Ratcatcher 1 A
- Free Guy (2021) as Antwan A
- Reservation Dogs (2021) WP note
- The Electrical Life of Louis Wain (2021) as Max Kase A
- Our Flag Means Death (2022) as Blackbeard DPA
- Lightyear (2022) as Mo Morrison (voice) A
- History of the World Part II (2023) A
- Next Goal Wins (2023) DWP note
Tropes associated with Taika Waititi's work include:
- Awesome, Dear Boy: This is the reason he wanted to direct Thor: Ragnarok, he has been a comics fan since he was a child and relished the idea of directing a superhero film. Cate Blanchett is also on record as saying one of the biggest reasons that she signed on for Ragnarok was so that she could be directed by Waititi, being a huge admirer of his previous work.
- Bathos: Most of the works in his filmography use this heavily, having some very serious and dramatic themes but pairing that with absurdist comedy.
- Black Comedy: A common component of his films, especially What We Do in the Shadows which is a mockumentary about vampires living in a domestic modern setting.
- Casting Gag: Has the honor of sharing two comic book-based roles with veteran voice actor, Kevin Michael Richardson.
- Creator Cameo: As a trained actor, he has played small roles in a majority of his films.
- Mockumentary: Used in Flight of the Conchords, What We Do in the Shadows and the comedic Team Thor shorts he directed to show what Thor (and Bruce Banner) were up to in the run-up to Thor: Ragnarok.
- Money, Dear Boy: In November 2023, Waititi admitted he took on the directing role for the Thor films because he had children to feed. He said it wasn't on his plan for his career as an auteur director.
- Old Shame: He simply asked for a tumbleweed emoji when someone on Twitter asked him about his experience on Green Lantern (2011), and later joked that Free Guy was the very first time that he got to work with Ryan Reynolds.
- Production Posse: Has directed Rachel House in four different films.
- Sliding Scale of Idealism Versus Cynicism: His films definitely lean more towards the idealistic side of the scale, they may deal with serious themes but they usually do so with humor, pathos, and plenty of heartwarming moments.
- Those Two Actors: He has co-starred alongside Rhys Darby in Radiradirah, What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople and Our Flag Means Death.
- Trolling Creator:
- He comes off this for some Marvel Comics purists in regard to his MCU contributions. He went as far as saying he barely opened a single Mighty Thor comic book and decided to make Thor: Ragnarok without taking any inspiration from it, and that the film was "written by a 6-year-old". Then a couple of years later he trolled further by pretending Thor: Love & Thunder has been written by a 7 year old.
- As for his Star Wars project, he allegedly asked Natalie Portman to play a role in it, allegedly not knowing she was Padmé Amidala in the Prequel Trilogy. Many fans find it hard to believe that he didn't know about this fact. Later, he said that this project was "gonna piss people off".
