Taika Waititi Is Making A Film About A “Famously Weak” Soccer Team
The American Samoa soccer team hold the record for the largest loss in soccer history. Now, they'll be the subject of Waititi's new film.
Taika Waititi is probably the hardest working director in Hollywood.
After all, the man’s plate has been overwhelmingly full for years now. For a while, he was going to be the creative force behind a live action adaptation of Akira, the anime classic. Then, he was going to direct a stop motion animation for Netflix, following the life of Bubbles, Michael Jackson’s chimp. (Needless to say, that project didn’t survive an increased focus on Jackson’s alleged crimes following the release of the documentary Leaving Neverland.)
EXCLU: Before he jumps into pre-production on THOR: LOVE AND THUNDER, Taika Waititi signs on to write and direct mystery project in the fall with Fox Searchlight handling worldwide rights https://t.co/MKqNKzrAgU
— Justin Kroll (@krolljvar) August 7, 2019
And those are only the projects that haven’t come to fruition. He also has the upcoming film Jojo Rabbit, starring himself as an imaginary version of Adolf Hitler (it’s a long story.) And there’s Thor 4, subtitled Love and Thunder, his forthcoming Marvel flick that will star Natalie Portman as a female version of the Asgardian god.
Well, looks like Waititi isn’t slowing down any time soon. It’s just been announced that he’ll be squeezing in another film inbetween Jojo Rabbit and Thor 4, a currently untitled sports film about a famously weak soccer team.
Based on the documentary Next Goal Wins, the film will follow the American Samoa national football team, a group of players that were long regarded as one of the world’s weakest teams. In fact, they hold the record for the largest ever defeat in a soccer match, losing 31-nil against a group of Aussies.
It’s probably a safe bet then that Waititi’s film will be a Bad News Bears-style story of a ragtag group of losers who learn the true meaning of life, competition and sport.
Sounds pretty great to me.
The film is still only in early stages of pre-production, but it sounds like Waititi is looking to set it up fast — there are rumours that it will even begin shooting this year. So make sure to keep your eyes very open, why don’t you?