Sorry to Taika Waititi's Kids But He's Really Busy Right Now
He'll get to you after the next five projects though
Taika Waititi is a busy guy. His latest Marvel enterprise, Thor: Love and Thunder is out next week, and his HBO Max comedy Our Flag Means Death just got renewed. In a New York Times profile with David Itzkoff, Waititi lists his resume, replete with acting (Free Guy), producing (FX’s What We Do In The Shadows), and more directing (his soccer movie that they’ve been editing Armie Hammer out of). He’s got Star Wars adaptations to write, a Roahl Dahl adaptation, stuff in the pipeline with everyone’s favorite company Netflix. That’s not to even mention his globe-trotting partying lifestyle with fiancée Rita Ora.
Except, there’s one issue: “I am cool as well to take six months off and just go hang out with my kids,” Waititi told Itzkoff.
Is he? What about his acting, directing, producing, writing? What about his “five other things that haven’t been reported on yet”? It seems like if Waititi wanted to take six months off and see his children, he could take six months off to see his children. Instead, we’re forced to swallow the worst of both worlds: an oversaturation of Waititi’s whimsical, smug comedy, and knowing about two kids out there who haven't seen their father.
“They couldn’t be farther away,” Waititi said, explaining they’re home in New Zealand with his ex-wife, producer Chelsea Winstanley. But don’t worry, if their father won’t hang out with them — taking an active interest in their upbringing on top of his numerous franchise commitments — he’ll at least bring them to the Thor: Love and Thunder set where they “ignored” Christian Bale. Why would children care about Christian Bale? They haven’t seen Ford V Ferrari.
Waititi maintains his work is about underdogs, about “not being able to choose your family and sometimes that’s not your blood family.” Not exactly the definition of an underdog, per se, but a definition that fits Waititi nonetheless. Of course, Waititi could just be playing flip and lackadaisical, and some part of his New Zealand comedy about being so busy his life sucks but continuing to be busy anyway is going well over my head.
Still, Taika, for the sake of your children, go ahead and take a break from making your next wacky, colorfully off-kilter "here's something that feels both a period piece and a musical but actually it's just a little gay" project. I think we’ll be fine without it.
