Will Arnett Replacing Armie Hammer in New Taika Waititi Movie

It’s been a little over two years since Taika Waititi’s film, Next Goal Wins, was announced. Due to the pandemic and Waititi’s work on Thor: Love and Thunder, it was unclear when the movie would be released, but it is finally set to come out this year. However, The Hollywood Reporter revealed this week that the movie recently underwent some big reshoots. Arrested Development and The LEGO Batman Movie alum, Will Arnett, has replaced Call Me By Your Name and The Man From U.N.C.L.E.‘s Armie Hammer.  

Next Goal Wins is the latest in a line of projects Hammer has exited since he was accused of sexual assault by multiple women. Hammer denies the accusations, which are under investigation by the Los Angeles police department. After being dropped by his agents at WME, he left the Jennifer Lopez movie Shotgun Wedding, Paramount+’s Godfather series, and the Broadway play The Minutes. Hammer’s last upcoming project is the Fox/Disney movie, The Death on the Nile, which is set to be released next month.

As for Next Goal Wins, the upcoming movie is based on the documentary of the same name. The original film followed the American Samoa soccer team and their Dutch coach, Thomas Rongen, as he attempted “the nearly impossible task” of transforming the team into “perennial losers into winners.” Hammer was going to play a soccer executive working at the Football Federation American Samoa, but that role now belongs to Arnett.

In addition to Arnett, Next Goal Wins will star Michael Fassbender, Elisabeth Moss, David Fane, Beulah Koale, Oscar Kightley, Lehi Falepapalangi, and more. The movie will be produced by Andy Serkis, Jonathan Cavendish, Garrett Basch, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison, and Waititi, who wrote the project with Iain Morris. Imaginarium Productions, a digital performance-capture studio founded by Serkis and Cavendish in 2011, optioned the rights to Next Goal Wins. The original documentary was directed by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison back in 2014.

As for Waititi’s other projects, Marvel fans are eager to see Thor: Love and Thunder later this year. During a recent chat with Empire, the director emphasized that it’s “the craziest film” he’s ever done.

“Well, just between [me and] you and the readers, I’ve done some crazy sh*t in my life. I’ve lived, like, ten lifetimes. But it’s the craziest film I’ve ever done,” Waititi shared. “If you wrote down all the elements of this film, it shouldn’t make sense,” he added, “It’s almost like it shouldn’t be made. If you walked into a room and said, ‘I want this and this and this.’ Who’s in it? These people. What are you going to call it? Love And Thunder. I mean, you’d never work again. Maybe I won’t after this.”

“It’s very different from Ragnarok,” Waititi continued. “It’s crazier. I’ll tell you what’s different. There’ll be far more emotion in this film. And a lot more love. And a lot more thunder. And a lot more Thor, if you’ve seen the photos.”

Thor: Love & Thunder is currently scheduled to hit theaters on July 8, 2022. Next Goal Wins does not yet have a release date.