Latest / Mic Drop Comedy / Taika Waititi on Filming _Klara and the Sun_ in His Home Country of New Zealand

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Taika Waititi on Filming _Klara and the Sun_ in His Home Country of New Zealand · Mic Drop Comedy

• 0:00
  Speaker 1: Please welcome the one and only Taika Waititi!
• 0:02
  Speaker 2: Thank you. Wow. Taika. Very receptive. Yeah. Reception.
• 0:30
  Speaker 1: They stood as they should. Thank you.
• 0:32
  Speaker 2: They love you, man. Everybody loves you. Everybody loves you.
• 0:34
  Speaker 1: Yeah.
• 0:35
  Speaker 2: You're a great actor. You're a writer, director.
• 0:37
  Speaker 1: You won an Oscar.
• 0:38
  Speaker 2: How are you so good looking? What is going on?
• 0:42
  Speaker 2: You're graying great. Thank you. Yeah, what is the secret here?
• 0:48
  Speaker 2: That's why secrets are secrets.
• 0:50
  Speaker 1: Damn, you shouldn't ask for your face, man.
• 0:53
  Speaker 2: I'm campaigning for that to be one of the categories.
• 0:57
  Speaker 2: You're looking fantastic as usual. We always scrub up well,
• 0:59
  Speaker 2: don't we? Yeah. Look at this beautiful crisp suit that
• 1:03
  Speaker 2: I got from a local haberdashery.
• 1:05
  Speaker 1: Yeah, it helps when you've got, you know, 50 people
• 1:07
  Speaker 1: trying to make you look good.
• 1:07
  Speaker 2: Mm-hm. Yeah.
• 1:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, let's talk about this film, man. OK.
• 1:11
  Speaker 2: I watched it. I suppose we have to.
• 1:14
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I watched it.
• 1:14
  Speaker 2: It was great. Yeah. You want to tell people what
• 1:17
  Speaker 2: it's about? I don't want to put words in your mouth. Sure, OK, yeah.
• 1:20
  Speaker 2: I obviously don't even really know anymore what it's about.
• 1:23
  Speaker 2: I have to keep answering this question. I think the
• 1:25
  Speaker 2: more I answer it, the weirder the answers sound, and
• 1:28
  Speaker 2: maybe I'm not sure. It's about a woman. It's not
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  Speaker 2: even about a woman. It's about a robot... I don't
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  Speaker 2: know what it's about. Just go and see it, and
• 1:36
  Speaker 2: that's the end of the interview. Okay, so Jenna Ortega
• 1:39
  Speaker 2: plays a robot set in the near future where everyone's
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  Speaker 2: so disconnected and out of touch with each other, you
• 1:44
  Speaker 2: have to buy an artificial friend for your children just
• 1:48
  Speaker 2: to hang out with them. It's not really an AI
• 1:51
  Speaker 2: sort of situation, it's just a dumb robot that hangs
• 1:54
  Speaker 2: out in your house. And she plays that, and Amy
• 1:57
  Speaker 2: Adams is the mother. And it's about this robot who's
• 2:00
  Speaker 2: looking to understand love and seeking to bring this broken
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  Speaker 2: family back together.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, well, it's not that far-fetched from what's happening right now.
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  Speaker 2: I've just heard that people are about to buy robots
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  Speaker 2: to put in their houses.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, forget robots now. People are becoming friends with
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  Speaker 1: their phones right now.
• 2:15
  Speaker 2: And going out with them as well, yeah.
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  Speaker 1: Dating their phones and apps. I mean, I don't know.
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  Speaker 1: Is this your commentary on AI or.
• 2:22
  Speaker 2: Well, no, because, you know, it was too late now.
• 2:24
  Speaker 2: It's not even a future movie, is it? Right. It's
• 2:26
  Speaker 2: happening right now. Yeah. Too late. Too late. When did
• 2:30
  Speaker 2: you make this? Don't watch the movie, just go live it.
• 2:34
  Speaker 2: We shot it, like, two years ago. Two years ago. And...
• 2:37
  Speaker 2: Not many people were talking about AI and the threats
• 2:39
  Speaker 2: of AI. I think when people were talking about ChatGPT,
• 2:42
  Speaker 2: it was still a novelty. Remember, what was it? Midjourney,
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  Speaker 2: that thing everyone was using to create those terrible pictures,
• 2:48
  Speaker 2: and everyone was like, this is incredible! And then you
• 2:52
  Speaker 2: step back and you realise it's all trash. Yeah, yeah.
• 2:56
  Speaker 1: So what, I mean, okay, so let's take a step
• 2:58
  Speaker 1: back into this film. It's based on a book.
• 3:00
  Speaker 2: Based on a book by Kazuo Ishiguro. He wrote an
• 3:03
  Speaker 2: incredible book. He's written many, many great novels. But Remains
• 3:06
  Speaker 2: of the Day, back in the day, was one of
• 3:09
  Speaker 2: the great films that was adapted from his book. And yeah,
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  Speaker 2: and I've stumbled across this book at an airport, just
• 3:16
  Speaker 2: looking for something to read. And you know when you
• 3:18
  Speaker 2: go to the airport bookstores, it's just full of spy
• 3:20
  Speaker 2: novels or books about how to crush your enemy in business.
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  Speaker 1: And.
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  Speaker 2: And I have little to zero interest in either of those,
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  Speaker 2: so I took this one sweet novel about a robot
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  Speaker 2: looking for love. And I'd read it and it just
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  Speaker 2: spoke to me and I wanted to ruin it with
• 3:37
  Speaker 2: an adaptation. You didn't ruin it. It's great. I watched it.
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  Speaker 2: It's a real feel-good movie. Yeah, it's a beautiful movie.
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  Speaker 2: It pulls out the hot strings. It's really well made.
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  Speaker 1: You know, I think the casting was great. You know,
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  Speaker 1: how was it to find the cast for this?
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  Speaker 2: It was super easy because I'm a very popular person.
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  Speaker 2: And I've a great reputation. I'd like to tell you
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  Speaker 2: it was like some sort of like intense journey to
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  Speaker 2: find the cast and to convince them. No, they all...
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  Speaker 2: You just write checks and they come. No, that's not true.
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  Speaker 2: They trusted you to do it. And you executed it.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, General Ortega, she, you know.
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  Speaker 2: But she's incredible. No, she was killing it. She is
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  Speaker 2: a freak. I mean, how amazing is her acting and
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  Speaker 2: everything and just the fact she makes really crazy decisions.
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  Speaker 2: You know, for a kid actor to be doing all of...
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  Speaker 2: Making just strange decisions with her... With their roles, it's
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  Speaker 2: just great. She's always amazing.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, this is how good these guys were, because
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  Speaker 1: their scenes, because they play robots, and there's scenes where
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  Speaker 1: they have to be completely still and only move, like,
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  Speaker 1: one part of their body, because they're trying to freeze
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  Speaker 1: as robots. And I was watching this, like, is this CGI?
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  Speaker 1: Their body control is so good.
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  Speaker 2: Just very robotic acting. Very robotic.
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  Speaker 1: She was great.
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  Speaker 2: She was great. And Amy Adams, the great, one of
• 4:49
  Speaker 2: the greats that we have. Amy Adams is in it
• 4:51
  Speaker 2: playing the mother who I've loved for many years.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, and Mia is in it, right?
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  Speaker 2: Mia Faria is in it. Aaron Murphy, Cillian Murphy's son
• 5:00
  Speaker 2: is in it. He's big right now with everyone comparing
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  Speaker 2: him to his dad. And then also Natasha Lyonne.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, Natasha Lyonne was in it. You got an all-star cast.
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  Speaker 1: You brought them all to New Zealand to make this film.
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  Speaker 2: The beautiful, the great nation of New Zealand.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah.
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  Speaker 2: These guys. They are... Do you guys even know what
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  Speaker 2: that is? You just cheered. You don't even know what
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  Speaker 2: it is.
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  Speaker 1: They don't know.
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  Speaker 2: Where it is. They don't know. You just thought of
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  Speaker 2: Middle Earth. I've been there. It's great. And you thought
• 5:32
  Speaker 2: of Xena, Warrior Princess. Yeah.
• 5:35
  Speaker 1: And Hercules and Kiwis.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, I've been there. I've been there.
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  Speaker 1: I go there all the time.
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  Speaker 2: We know.
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  Speaker 1: We know.
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  Speaker 2: Down there, we know.
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  Speaker 1: And I love New Zealand. It's great. I get why
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  Speaker 1: all these billionaires are trying to make it into their
• 5:48
  Speaker 1: personal bunkers.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah.
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  Speaker 1: It's like white people.
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  Speaker 2: We don't want them. I don't know how they got in.
• 5:53
  Speaker 2: I don't know how they got in.
• 5:55
  Speaker 1: Yeah, they're all down there. It sounds like it's a
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  Speaker 1: great place to make films.
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  Speaker 2: It's a great place in apocalypse to be. It's a
• 6:01
  Speaker 2: great place. If you are going to be... If you're
• 6:05
  Speaker 2: going to be responsible for the end of the world,
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  Speaker 2: it's a great place to build a bunker. Yeah. Yeah, yeah. Great,
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  Speaker 2: I mean, total, total, it's totally isolated. Everyone is polite.
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  Speaker 1: There's cappuccinos on every block. Some would say boring. Some
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  Speaker 1: would say, if you grew up there, you might say boring.
• 6:21
  Speaker 1: If you're not from there, you're going to say it's
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  Speaker 1: quaint and boring. No, it's quirky. It's got this quirky
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  Speaker 1: sensibility that's coming out in the films they make. I
• 6:28
  Speaker 1: think pound for pound, New Zealand, what's the population size?
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  Speaker 2: About four million humans.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, that's like nothing. Really.
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  Speaker 2: No, but it's not about the quantity, is it? That's
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  Speaker 2: what I'm saying. They punch above their weight. They punch
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  Speaker 2: above their weight, New Zealand. They got everybody.
• 6:44
  Speaker 1: They got the Flight of the Conchords. They got Peter Jackson.
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  Speaker 1: They got Tiger Woods caddy. Bad example. They got the
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  Speaker 1: New Zealand rugby team. They got Taika.
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  Speaker 2: They got.
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  Speaker 1: That's 32 people.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, that's a lot. That's what we got. But what
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  Speaker 2: is it?
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  Speaker 1: Why are they punching above their weight in New Zealand?
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  Speaker 2: Because we live very, we see the world objectively, we
• 7:10
  Speaker 2: like to look out at the world and sort of
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  Speaker 2: study it and then we sort of, I think our
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  Speaker 2: point of view is just very different from anywhere else. No,
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  Speaker 2: it's definitely. We're just quiet people who like to, I'm
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  Speaker 2: not here to talk about the country of New Zealand
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  Speaker 2: because none of you are invited, I'm not promoting it. Okay,
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  Speaker 2: I'm not promoting my country to you. You can't come there.
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  Speaker 1: Yeah, it's almost like a, it's kind of like a secret.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we don't want you. How good New Zealand is.
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  Speaker 2: I love you guys, I love this country. We don't
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  Speaker 2: want you.
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  Speaker 1: No, you don't want New Zealand.
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  Speaker 2: And also like, they make great films.
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  Speaker 1: I mean, can you talk about coming up as a
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  Speaker 1: filmmaker in New Zealand a little bit?
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  Speaker 2: Yeah, we do.
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  Speaker 1: Because people think it's hard to make films here.
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  Speaker 2: Imagine coming out of New Zealand. It's hard to make
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  Speaker 2: films just in general. But growing up in New Zealand,
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  Speaker 2: I grew up in a very small town. There weren't
• 7:58
  Speaker 2: many options for career choices. If you were to tell
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  Speaker 2: an eight-year-old me about filmmaking, I would have called you
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  Speaker 2: a liar. The fact that, you know, there was a
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  Speaker 2: job where you could go to work and pretend things
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  Speaker 2: and dress up in costumes and... and pretend things inside
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  Speaker 2: of a rectangle. For a lot of money. For a
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  Speaker 2: lot of money.
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  Speaker 1: For a ton of money.
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  Speaker 2: Yeah. You're lying to me. There's only fishing. And so,
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  Speaker 2: you know, but now that's changed and, you know, we've
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  Speaker 2: got a thriving film industry and, yeah, we make really
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  Speaker 2: beautiful films. And, you know, what's great, I think, is that,
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  Speaker 2: you know, for young people who are wanting to get
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  Speaker 2: into the arts and wanting to get into filmmaking, you know,
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  Speaker 2: I would say, like, you know, one of the most
• 8:38
  Speaker 2: important things is to remember... that your creative vision and
• 8:41
  Speaker 2: the way you see the world is unique to you.
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  Speaker 2: Don't let people tell you that you're wrong for being
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  Speaker 2: creative in a certain way, or don't let people sort
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  Speaker 2: of try and squash your dreams or the way you
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  Speaker 2: see the world. You know, they can eat shit. It's
• 8:54
  Speaker 2: your life. It's your brain.
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  Speaker 1: It's good. It's good.
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  Speaker 2: You know? Stick to your guns, because... You know, I
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  Speaker 2: think for a lot of us that, you know, just
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  Speaker 2: putting ourselves out there and making films and daring to,
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  Speaker 2: you know, to have a career like this, a lot
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  Speaker 2: of people hate that. A lot of people hate anyone
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  Speaker 2: achieving a dream. You know, there's a lot of jealousy
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  Speaker 2: out there. So you've got to, like, sort of shut
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  Speaker 2: that off and just stick to your guns and do
• 9:24
  Speaker 2: your thing. Unless you've got guns. Don't stick to your guns.
• 9:27
  Speaker 1: Don't stick to your guns unless they're actual guns. Other
• 9:30
  Speaker 1: than that, stick to your guns. I've had the pleasure
• 9:33
  Speaker 1: of working with you because you directed me. I got
• 9:35
  Speaker 1: to see it firsthand. We're not supposed to promote this,
• 9:38
  Speaker 1: but whatever. Interior Chinatown on Hulu, check it out. Taika, me,
• 9:42
  Speaker 1: and Jimmy O. Yang.
• 9:43
  Speaker 2: Beautiful show. Beautiful project.
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  Speaker 1: And I got to see it firsthand. And maybe you're
• 9:47
  Speaker 1: too modest to talk about yourself or analyze yourself from outside.
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  Speaker 2: It's me.
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  Speaker 1: No, I'm good.
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  Speaker 2: I'll keep going.
• 9:52
  Speaker 1: I'll analyze you, man. I saw you on set. First
• 9:54
  Speaker 1: time I saw you, it was like this.
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  Speaker 2: It was.
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  Speaker 1: like working with the hottest director on the planet. both
• 10:03
  Speaker 1: in looks and in ability.
• 10:05
  Speaker 2: And you're so good looking. I mean, I was on stage.
• 10:08
  Speaker 2: Just stay on that for a bit.
• 10:09
  Speaker 1: Yeah, you're so good looking. I almost turned gay and whatever.
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  Speaker 1: And you were very free on set. That's what really
• 10:16
  Speaker 1: struck me, is that you as the director, when you're
• 10:18
  Speaker 1: showing things, you were just free. You were like... Whatever,
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  Speaker 1: let's do it. You would not only improvise lines most
• 10:25
  Speaker 1: of the time, you would improvise props and sets. I
• 10:27
  Speaker 1: remember there were times when we were in a fight scene,
• 10:30
  Speaker 1: and after this fight scene, we filmed it, we practiced it,
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  Speaker 1: we filmed it, and then in between setups, we're just
• 10:36
  Speaker 1: hanging around, and we're kind of like goofing off. I
• 10:38
  Speaker 1: thought we were goofing off. And you were talking about
• 10:40
  Speaker 1: how like, it wouldn't be funny if you threw a
• 10:42
  Speaker 1: plate and it stuck here. And then all the blood
• 10:44
  Speaker 1: came out of his throat like that. And I was like,
• 10:46
  Speaker 1: oh yeah, haha, that would be very funny if you
• 10:47
  Speaker 1: did that. And then you made it happen! And that's
• 10:51
  Speaker 1: not something that most directors would be able to do,
• 10:53
  Speaker 1: you know? And whether it's, you know, be free enough
• 10:57
  Speaker 1: and brave enough to do it, or even have the
• 10:59
  Speaker 1: people at hand who are willing to, you know, so
• 11:01
  Speaker 1: is that a mixture of picking.
• 11:03
  Speaker 2: The right people? I think that all of us just
• 11:05
  Speaker 2: have to remember that we're little kids trapped in grown-up bodies.
• 11:08
  Speaker 2: You look in the mirror, a lot of the time
• 11:10
  Speaker 2: you're like, who's this old woman looking back at me? And,
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  Speaker 2: you know, that's how I feel. And when did I
• 11:15
  Speaker 2: turn into an old woman? And I think you've just
• 11:20
  Speaker 2: got to remember, you know, you still have to be playful, curious.
• 11:24
  Speaker 2: You've just got to, like, life is so short, man. Fleeting.
• 11:27
  Speaker 2: And you've just got to have fun, especially with your job.
• 11:30
  Speaker 2: If you're going to work going, oh, God, here we
• 11:33
  Speaker 2: go again. You know, you've got to try and change that.
• 11:37
  Speaker 2: And I think especially with that, what we do, always
• 11:39
  Speaker 2: have fun and always pivot and move. And, you know,
• 11:42
  Speaker 2: it's what keeps us fresh. Sure. And, yeah, keeps us
• 11:48
  Speaker 2: from growing up.
• 11:49
  Speaker 1: Well, here's the other anecdote I want to share. I
• 11:51
  Speaker 1: don't know if people know this yet, but this is
• 11:54
  Speaker 1: before I met you. I was in Australia. I'm going
• 11:57
  Speaker 1: to name drop my projects now. I was filming Godzilla
• 11:59
  Speaker 1: vs Kong in Gold Coast. I was Chinatown shopkeeper number one.
• 12:04
  Speaker 2: Check it out. Oh, you got that? Yeah. Oh, you
• 12:07
  Speaker 2: got that one. Yeah, everyone was wondering who got that role. Okay.
• 12:10
  Speaker 1: Yeah, I connect act one to act two.
• 12:12
  Speaker 2: Okay.
• 12:14
  Speaker 1: And I was filming this thing, whatever role, and the
• 12:17
  Speaker 1: driver who was driving me to set was a Maori
• 12:19
  Speaker 1: woman living in Australia. And she said she worked with you.
• 12:23
  Speaker 1: And she said, Taika's our guy. We lent him to
• 12:27
  Speaker 1: the Australians or the Americans to you. He's our tribe.
• 12:30
  Speaker 1: And And she said that you would bring Aboriginal Australian
• 12:36
  Speaker 1: kids on set when you were filming Thor, and you would,
• 12:40
  Speaker 1: you had a group of them and you'd be like, Hey,
• 12:42
  Speaker 1: what do you like to do? You like costumes? Okay,
• 12:45
  Speaker 1: here's the costume person. Go work with them. What do
• 12:47
  Speaker 1: you like? You like cameras? Here's the DP. What do
• 12:49
  Speaker 1: you like?
• 12:49
  Speaker 2: You like acting?
• 12:50
  Speaker 1: Here's Chris Hemsworth. What do you like?
• 12:54
  Speaker 2: You like directing? Come with me. And you bring these
• 12:56
  Speaker 2: Aboriginal kids and you just.
• 12:58
  Speaker 1: And I'm asking you, why were you comfortable wasting everyone's
• 13:01
  Speaker 1: money with that?
• 13:01
  Speaker 2: Yeah. Because there's so much waste, you've got to sometimes
• 13:06
  Speaker 2: waste it, you know, waste it for good. For good,
• 13:08
  Speaker 2: for good, yeah. Yeah, and like we, as I was saying,
• 13:10
  Speaker 2: growing up, there weren't opportunities like that for me, and
• 13:13
  Speaker 2: then having somewhat slight power, now when I get to
• 13:16
  Speaker 2: make things, I always think, you know, when you, as
• 13:19
  Speaker 2: a film unit, you go onto the people's land, and
• 13:22
  Speaker 2: you know, indigenous people's land, and we sort of stomp around,
• 13:25
  Speaker 2: and leave all this shit behind, and then we leave,
• 13:27
  Speaker 2: and like, you know, there's nothing in it for them,
• 13:29
  Speaker 2: so you've got to like, give back to the community,
• 13:32
  Speaker 2: and say, yeah, hey, thanks for having us, And also,
• 13:34
  Speaker 2: are there kids interested in this industry? And a lot
• 13:36
  Speaker 2: of those kids that were working on Thor, those Aboriginal kids,
• 13:38
  Speaker 2: are still working in the industry. This was 10 years later.
• 13:41
  Speaker 2: And it's just, you've got to create some opportunities where
• 13:45
  Speaker 2: there may not have been some before. No, that's super cool.
• 13:48
  Speaker 1: You're the best, Taika.
• 13:49
  Speaker 2: You're the best. Thanks for doing it.
• 13:50
  Speaker 1: Thanks for making your films. Thanks for being you.
• 13:52
  Speaker 2: I love you.
• 13:53
  Speaker 1: Thanks for working there.
• 13:54
  Speaker 2: I love you so much, Taika. I love him, and
• 13:55
  Speaker 2: thank you so much. Taika Waititi, everybody.
• 13:58
  Speaker 1: Fair enough time is in theaters October 23rd. Taika Waititi, everybody.