Waititi charms crowd in Toronto
It’s fortunate Taika Waititi found his way into film-making — the acclaimed Kiwi director described himself as an out of work “seaweed diver” before he found his true calling.
Waititi spoke after he received the prestigious TIFF Ebert Director award at a Tribute Gala event at the Toronto International Film Festival yesterday.
The recognition caps a huge couple of days for the 44-year-old, following the acclaim that came his way after Monday’s world premiere of his new movie Jojo Rabbit —a satirical black comedy in which he plays Adolf Hitler.
“This is a huge honour,” Waititi said after being given the award by Mexican film-maker Guillermo del Toro. “I’ve been thinking about what to say. I come from New Zealand where we really don’t like attention.”
He went on to freestyle through a quirky speech that had the crowd laughing and hanging on every word.
Movie-making did not seem like a viable career path when he first left school in the 80s, he said.
“Film-making was not on any list of job opportunities,” he said.
“I think when I went to get on the dole when I left high school, they said ‘what are you good at’ and I said ‘I’m good at diving for seaweed’.
“That’s what I put down and so I didn’t work for a long, long time. I started making films when I was about 30 after a very tragic attempt at being a seaweed diver.”
He also joked about the clean, green depictions of his homeland that featured on the big screens as his award was being announced.
“Coming from an indigenous native community in New Zealand, I really do feel like I get to tell our stories, and I was very struck by
I started making films when I was about 30 after a very tragic attempt at being a seaweed diver. Taika Waititi
watching the pictures there . . . I never realised how many trees and stuff there are there.
“But being afforded these opportunities here outside of New Zealand, . . . it’s never wasted on me.”
The Thor: Ragnarok director continued to crack jokes before rounding out his speech by attempting to “drop the mic” which was fixed to the lectern. “The thing I’m most grateful for is that everyone stopped clinking their knives and
forks on those plates. When we first got in here — did you hear that?
“Thank you so much, TIFF, for having me. I really appreciate this and it’s so lovely to feel so much love at this festival and . . . long live New Zealand! Thank you.”
Earlier, TIFF executive director and co-head Joana Vicente lauded Waititi’s creative spirit and explained why the festival had chosen to honour the talented Kiwi.
“Because we felt he’s just an incredible, original, unique voice and we felt his film was important,” she said. “Taika is just a fabulous filmmaker and people love his work. [Jojo Rabbit] is really special, it’s one of my favourites.
“I loved it. I loved what I felt and I loved the range of emotions and I found it incredibly original.
“I got out of that film and I was touched, it made me think about things.”