Taika Waititi Wanted A-List Star To Play Jojo Rabbit’s Imaginary Hitler

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Thor: Love and Thunder director Taika Waititi wanted an A-listed actor to play Hitler in Jojo Rabbit. Waititi directed the WWII dramedy based on Christine Leunens's 2008 book Caging Skies. The movie follows 10-year-old Hitler Youth member Johannes «Jojo» Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), who, after discovering that his mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their house, begins to question his Nazi beliefs. Jojo's introspection is frequently interrupted by his imaginary friend, a fanciful manifestation of Adolf Hitler played by Waititi himself. Jojo Rabbit generally received rave reviews and also won the Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay, although some critics were polarized due to the movie's handling of Nazism.

After Searchlight greenlit Jojo Rabbit following a seven-year wait, the casting process was fast-tracked to begin filming quickly. Hitler's casting wasn't announced until March 2018 and it came as a surprise to fans when news broke that Waititi was playing the role. As the director-actor revealed then, Searchlight's condition to make the film was that Waititi would play Hitler in Jojo Rabbit, so he had to reluctantly take up the role. Watiti didn't even research Hitler thoroughly, simply because he didn't think «he deserved the effort.» Rather, he characterized Hitler differently, rendering him as a pretend controversial idol and father figure to a lonely boy who is seeking validation and who is desperate to prove himself after being so horrendously bullied.

Related: Why Jojo Rabbit's Movie Reviews Are Mixed

Now, Waititi reveals his original plans for the make-believe Hitler in Jojo Rabbit. As he told GQ, when he went through the script for the movie in 2011, he wanted an