Taika Waititi Gets Surprisingly Pessimistic About His Legacy As a Filmmaker
The actor and director believes that in 15-20 years he will be completely forgotten.
Taika Waititi has become a household name in recent years, both as an actor and a director, contributing to pop culture giants like the Marvel Cinematic Universe with two of his Thor movies and creating original films like Jojo Rabbit.
And it seems that his career is far from over, as Taika is about to release his next movie, Next Goal Wins, and is currently writing a script for a Star Wars movie. But apparently he doesn't think any of this is a big deal.
In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the 47-year-old actor and director made a surprisingly candid revelation about his view of his future career and legacy.
He said that people are too obsessed with being liked and remembered, pointing out that if no one remembers who made Casablanca (1942), which is considered one of the greatest films of all time, then why would anyone remember him.
Waititi said that he will be obsolete in 15-20 years and then someone else will take his place, so the whole idea of chasing something all your life doesn't seem appealing to him. So Taika prefers to just live and make some movies.
Fans think he might be half right, as many of them have trouble remembering the name of the director of Casablanca (which is Michael Curtiz, by the way), but bring up several other famous movies with famous directors, like Orson Welles, who directed Citizen Kane (1941).
Others say that comparing himself to Michael Curtiz is incredibly arrogant on Taika's part, as they believe that his career may not be as impressive.
Most fans, however, remain quite positive about the director, saying that he has created his share of great and memorable films, such as What We Do in the Shadows (2014) and the aforementioned Jojo Rabbit (2019), so he may have created enough to be remembered after all.
The director's next film, Next Goal Wins, starring Michael Fassbender as a coach tasked with training a perennially losing soccer team, will premiere on November 17, 2023.
Sources: The Hollywood Reporter, Reddit