Taika David Waititi (born 16 August 1975), also known as Taika Cohen ONZM, is an Academy Award–winning 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 (2011) before later turning his full focus to directing and writing.
As a director, he's best known for What We Do in the Shadows, Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Thor: Ragnarok, and Jojo Rabbit, all of which he appears in as an actor. He also wrote the initial screenplay of Moana.
In 2020, Jojo Rabbit won him his first Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
His official Twitter
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Selected filmography:
[ D = Director; W = Writer; P = Producer; A = Actor ]
- Two Cars, One Night (2003) DWnote
- Eagle Vs Shark (2007) as Gordon DWA
- Boy (2010) as Alamein DWA
- Green Lantern (2011) (2011) as Thomas Kalmaku A
- What We Do in the Shadows (2014) as Viago DWPAnote
- 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) Anote
- What If...? (2021) as Korg (voice and motion capture) 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) (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 & Starro (voice) A
- Free Guy (2021) as Antwan A
- Reservation Dogs (2021) WPnote
- The Electrical Life Of Louis Wain (2021) as Max Kase A
- Our Flag Means Death (2022) as Blackbeard DPA
- Lightyear (2022) as Morrison (voice) A
- Next Goal Wins (TBD) DWPnote
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 to 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.
- 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 humour, pathos and plenty of heartwarming moments.
- Trolling Creator: He comes off a this for some Marvel Comics purists in regards 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 years later he trolled further by pretending Thor: Love & Thunder has been written by a 10 year old.
