Taika Waititi on Next Goal Wins and Why He Changed His Mind About Making a Sports Film

mmeBauer New Zealand’s Taika Waititi is prolific if nothing else. As an actor, he’s played roles from an endearing vampire in What We Do in the Shadows, to Adolf Hitler in his film Jojo Rabbit. His latest film, Next Goal Wins, tells the story of the American Samoa national soccer team and its attempt to qualify for the 2014 World Cup. Tom Power talks to Waititi about what drew him to this “underdog” story, why he finds humour in the mundane, and why he thinks New Zealand humour translates across the world.