While everyone was buzzing with excitement about the news that Taika Waititi is returning to direct Thor: Love and Thunder, he has another project waiting in the wings. Today, came word that his new film Jojo Rabbit made it onto the coveted TIFF ’19 slate. And then Waititi surprised everyone by sharing the teaser trailer on Twitter.
Based on the novel Caging Skies by Christine Leunens, Jojo Rabbit tells the story of a young boy named Jojo in Hitler’s Youth who learns his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their house. But there’s more. Jojo is bullied by other kids and finds refuge in his invisible friend, Adolf Hitler.
Taika Waititi himself plays Hitler in this satirical tale. Throughout production, he shared his thoughts on Twitter and Instagram many times, and expressed the glee he felt when he imagined Hitler learning he was being portrayed in a movie by a “New Zealand Maori Jew.” He also liked to use the hashtag “shitler” a lot. Judging by his social media and the trailer, Waititi had a lot of fun with this story.
So did his cast, which includes newcomer Roman Griffin Davis as Jojo Betzler and Scarlett Johansson as his mother, Rosie. Rebel Wilson, Thomasin Mackenzie, Alfie Allen, Stephen Merchant, and Sam Rockwell also join in what is sure to be one of the weirdest, wildest, most unusual films of the year.
Fox Searchlight is distributing this, but they haven’t added the trailer to their YouTube feed yet or even retweeted it. This seems a little odd, but then they also have other things to focus on at the moment. With that prime October 18 release date and a nice spot on the TIFF schedule, it probably won’t be long before the company goes all in on this one.
You can see the trailer here, thanks to Taika Waititi:
From “Visionistical” director, Teeka Wachichi, here’s a “teezer traylor”, for my anti-hate satire, #JojoRabbit, in theaters October 18. @rebelwilson @alfieeallen #ThomasinMcKenzie #RomanGriffinDavis @stephenmerchant #samrockwell #scarlettjohansson @jojorabbitmovie #visionistical pic.twitter.com/8o8X8cyJTD— Taika Waititi (@TaikaWaititi) July 23, 2019
