Taika Waititi Explains Jojo Rabbit's German Delay With Savage Takedown of Nazis

As of Friday, Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit received a wide release in theaters across the United [...]

By Adam Barnhardt

As of Friday, Taika Waititi's Jojo Rabbit received a wide release in theaters across the United States. The film isn't expected to get released in many international markets until after the first of the year, including a January 23rd release in Germany. After an inquiring fan asked the Thor: Ragnarok helmer why Germany was one of the latest markets to get the film, the filmmaker explained it in a way only Taika Waititi could: with one of the most savage tweets possible. "It's punishment for you know what," Waititi responded.

For the uninitiated, Jojo Rabbit is a satirical black comedy about a young German boy in the Hitler Youth and one of his only friends — an imaginary Adolf Hitler, played by Waititi himself. After the film premiered at the Toronto International Film Festival last month, it's been divisive with critics, debuting on Rotten Tomatoes with a 62 percent Fresh rating. Since then, the movie has increased to a healthier 77 percent Fresh rating after counting upwards of 144 reviews.

In a previous interview, Waititi admitted it was a bit challenging getting into this particular role.

"I felt weird about it," Waititi shared. "Even though the character in my film is not evil — he's got a 10-year-old's brain because he comes out of Jojo's head — there's elements to him that are shared with the actual guy."

Waititi directs (and stars) in the film based on a script he also wrote. The movie also stars Roman Griffin Davis, Thomasin McKenzie, Rebel Wilson, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen, Sam Rockwell, Scarlett Johansson, and Archie Yates.

The full synopsis for the film can be seen below.

"Writer-director Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok, Hunter for the Wilderpeople), brings his signature style of humor and pathos to his latest film, Jojo Rabbit, a World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy (Roman Griffin Davis) whose world view is turned upside down when he discovers his single mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in her attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his naive patriotism."

Jojo Rabbit is now playing in theaters.

Have you caught Waititi's latest film? If you have, let us know what you thought of the movie in the comments section below!

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