Taika Waititi, director, screenwriter and actor in "Jojo Rabbit" - 20th Century Fox

  • In "Jojo Rabbit", director and screenwriter Taika Waititi himself plays Adolf Hitler, an imaginary friend of the young hero.
  • He wanted to get as far away from the real Hitler as possible for his composition.
  • He hated himself when he saw himself in the suit.

In Tajo Waititi's Jojo Rabbit , a kid from the Hitler Youth has an imaginary friend, a grotesque and fantasized Adolf Hitler. "Although I am nothing like Hitler, I did not see anyone other than me to play the role because I did not want to take this risk on someone else," confides Taika Waititi to 20 Minutes .

Actor, director and screenwriter of this comedy which he describes as “anti hate”, the New Zealander had to use sophisticated make-up to look like “Adolf” as the young hero who familiarly discovers the horror of the Nazism. "I hated myself when I saw myself in a Hitler mirror" admits Taika Waititi. He was careful to take off his wig when he was directing his actors, including Scarlett Johansson, so as not to frighten them by his appearance.

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Nice meeting with @taikawaititi director and actor of the awesome #jojorabbit # director #actor #actor #star #actor #director

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A fake Hitler buffoon

"I did not look at Hitler's archive footage," explains Taika Waititi because I wanted to be as far from the real as possible. My character must make people laugh because it corresponds to the idea that a kid badly in his skin can be made of the one who is presented to him as a superman. This "Adolf" who supports Jojo in the trials of daily life is a jester who becomes more and more threatening. "Little by little, Jojo understands in pain what Nazism really is and who it is who he really took as a model," insists Taika Waititi. The spectator laughs heartily when "Adolf" frolics with Jojo during a training session or devours a head of Unicorn at lunch.

#JojoRabbit is a nugget of poetry, emotion, humor, which exalts the hero who is in us! It is full of beautiful script finds and staging ideas. A charming casting for a delightful result! pic.twitter.com/FNCFhtHxKl

- Xavier Ndala (@XNdala) January 24, 2020

The result of indoctrination

It's impossible not to think of Charlie Chaplin's Dictator (1940) or the fake Hitler played by Mel Brooks in To Be Or Not To Be (1984) in the way Taika Waititi ridicules his character. "I am familiar with these versions of Hitler, but I was not consciously inspired by them," he says. In my film, Hilter is the result of indoctrination from which the young hero ends up escaping. Adolf is so grotesque that one takes pleasure in making fun of him before the scenario takes a dramatic turn. In Jojo Rabbit , Hitler makes people laugh but also cry which makes comic moments all the more powerful. "Balance was hard to find in my way of interpreting it," says Taika Waititi. Its success is all the more remarkable.

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