We never realized how much we needed to see Michael Fassbender in a Comedy, till this! Here’s a first look at Taika Waititi‘s NEXT GOAL WINS, coming November 17, 2023 via Searchlight Pictures. The Film just premiered at TIFF ’23!
Synopsis:
Directed by Academy Award Winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok), NEXT GOAL WINS follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team around in this heartfelt underdog comedy.
(Photo credit: Searchlight Pictures)
By David Baldwin
In 2001, the American Samoa soccer team set the record for the worst loss in international football history, losing 31-0. Fast forward to over a decade later where the team (still the worst in the world) is trying to make a run for the 2014 World Cup qualifiers, this time with the help of disgraced coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender).
What follows is your standard underdog crowd pleasing story of the coach who helps the team realize their potential and the team helping the coach get his groove back. Co-Writer/Director Taika Waititi (last seen at TIFF’19 winning the People’s Choice Award for future Oscar-winner Jojo Rabbit) brings his trademark brand of humour to the proceedings, embellishing a few details along the way. He knowingly injects some meta elements into the film – including calling out the white saviour narrative we all know too well – while also paying special attention to the religious and cultural customs of the team. These moments lead to plenty of laughs, but also gives the film a heartfelt resonance.
While I could have done without Waititi yukking it up as the Film’s partial narrator (why not use the motif of multiple narrators like they do at the end the whole time?) and thought there were a few too many montages, I would be lying if I said I did not enjoy NEXT GOAL WINS. It knows exactly the right beats to hit and at 103 minutes, does not overstay its welcome. Fassbender is great as Rongen, dialing into the intensity he is known for and a softer side he does not show very often. Oscar Kightley is terrific as the team’s manager, but despite there being multiple solid performances from various team members, non-binary Actor Kaimana steals the show. They play transgender fa’afafine player Jayiah in the Film (based on a real life, history-making player) and is the beating heart and soul of the Film. They act their heart out, delivering a performance that will have you laughing just as often as you are crying. You would never know this is their first film role.
NEXT GOAL WINS screens at TIFF’ 23:
Sunday, September 10 at 6:45 PM at Princess of Wales Theatre
Tuesday, September 12 at 6:30 PM at Princess of Wales Theatre
Thursday, September 14 at 5:30 PM at Royal Alexandra Theatre
TIFF ’23 selection NEXT GOAL WINS surfaces today with a brand new clip!
Synopsis:
Directed by Academy Award Winner Taika Waititi (Jojo Rabbit, Thor: Ragnarok) and based on a true story, NEXT GOAL WINS follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender) hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team around in this heartfelt underdog comedy.
Directed by: Taika Waititi
Screenplay by: Taika Waititi & Iain Morris
Produced by: Jonathan Cavendish, Garrett Basch, Taika Waititi, Mike Brett, Steve Jamison
Cast: Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Uli Latukefu, Semu Filipo, Lehi Falepapalangi, with Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss
Searchlight Pictures release NEXT GOAL WINS November 17, 2023.
TIFF announced today that Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins, a soccer comedy directed and co-written by the New Zealand filmmaker, will make its World Premiere at the 48th edition of the Toronto International Film Festival (September 7–17).
“We’re thrilled to welcome Taika back to the Festival and share his audacious take on the most popular sport in the world,” said Cameron Bailey, CEO of TIFF. “Next Goal Wins is perfect for TIFF fans of the beautiful game looking for their football fill until the 2026 World Cup arrives.”
The TIFF Ebert Director Award recipient was last at the Festival in 2019 with the World Premiere of Jojo Rabbit. The film went on to win the TIFF People’s Choice Award and an Academy Award for Best Adapted Screenplay.
Next Goal Wins stars Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane, Rachel House, Beulah Koale, Uli Latukefu, Semu Filipo, Lehi Falepapalangi, with Will Arnett and Elisabeth Moss. The heartfelt sports comedy is based on the 2014 documentary of the same name and follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup Qualifiers approaching, the team hires down-on-his-luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Fassbender) hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team around. Next Goal Wins is a Searchlight Pictures film.
More Festival details will be announced in the coming weeks. Tickets for TIFF 2023 go on-sale to TIFF Members by level beginning on August 18. For more details visit tiff.net/join. The full Festival schedule will be released in August.
Elevation Pictures x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win a Digital Download of NIGHT RAIDERS. The Film, produced by Taika Waititi, premiered at TIFF ’21!
Synopsis:
The year is 2043. A military occupation controls disenfranchised cities in post-war North America. Children are property of the State. A desperate Cree woman joins an underground band of vigilantes to infiltrate a State children’s academy and get her daughter back. Night Raiders is a female-driven dystopian drama about resilience, courage and love.
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Enter for a chance to #win a Digital Download of #NightRaiders.
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NIGHT RAIDERS is on Digital and On-Demand November 30, 2021.
(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)
Premiering at TIFF ’21 and from Executive Producer Taika Waititi, we present to you the new Trailer for NIGHT RAIDERS by Danis Goulet.
Synopsis:
The year is 2043. A military occupation controls disenfranchised cities in post-war North America. Children are property of the State. A desperate Cree woman joins an underground band of vigilantes to infiltrate a State children’s academy and get her daughter back. Night Raiders is a female-driven dystopian drama about resilience, courage and love.
Elevation Pictures release NIGHT RAIDERS October 8, 2021.
(Photo/video credit: Elevation Pictures)
By Mr. Will Wong
At long last, FREE GUY is set to arrive in theatres after multiple delays, but if you’ve heard the chatter, you’ll soon understand why this epic Comedy has been saved for our return to the theatres! Full of heart and surprises, the Film from Director Shawn Levy centers on a Bank Teller named Guy (Ryan Reynolds) who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, ultimately becoming the hero of his own story…out to save the world!
We had the joy of sitting-in on the global Press Junket for this hilarious Blockbuster and in-attendance were a star-studded group:
Shawn Levy – Director
Ryan Reynolds – Guy
Jodie Comer – Millie/Molotov Girl
Joe Keery – Keys
Lil Rel Howery – Buddy
Taika Waititi – Antoine
Utkarsh Ambudkar – Mouser
Shawn Levy talks about the excitement of the world finally getting to see FREE GUY.
Levy: Well, it has been a ride and a longer wait than we expected but this Movie was such a delight to make. The making of it was pretty joyous and fun, we’re just really excited to get to share a movie that has that same fun and delight and warmth that was on-set. Hopefully it translated to the screen. In some of these early reactions it’s been really affirming and all coming through to audiences the way we hoped.
Ryan Reynolds talks about stepping into the world of a wholesome hero.
Reynolds: My default is just pure trash on the inside so this is slightly new for me. There’s a movie I like called ‘Being There‘ starring Peter Sellers and it was like the first foothold I hand into this world. There’s something really wonderful about playing a character who’s kinda naive and innocent. In a sense, he’s like a four-year-old adult. So there’s something kinda fun about exploring everything with new eyes, which is what this character gets to do, and filtering that through the prism of Comedy. I love playing a character who’s stepping out of the background and into this new person.
Jodie Comer does double duty as Molotov Girl and Millie and tells us about balancing this.
Comer: One thing which draw me to the role was the Team – working with the Creators of the Film and also the sheer imagination the Script has. I remember reading it and thinking ‘Omigosh, how is this gonna translate onto the screen?’. You have the real world mixed-in with the Video Game and I think it was just the scope of it and how much heart it had. You see that it’s written about as an Action-Comedy, but you see there’s so much more to that. It provokes so much emotion in you. I think it was the imagination the Script had for me.
Mariah Carey’s ‘Fantasy‘ plays a pivotal role in Free Guy and the question is asked about why this song in particular.
Levy: Ryan is a maestro of the odd, random but inspired song idea. He was obsessive about it early on as we were working on the Script. He said, ‘You know what I think should be the entire anthem of the Movie and marketing campaign?’. He suggested this song by Mariah and we know that by the Third Act of the Movie we have a cover of that song by our very own Jodie Comer!
Reynolds: In the earliest drafts we’d written The Outfield‘s ‘Your Love‘ and it ended-up not fitting right. It’s a great song but Mariah Carey‘s ‘Fantasy‘ just came in like a lightening bolt. It was like an engine through so much of the Movie. It’s really fantastic!
Reynolds and Howery talk about the central theme of friendship in the Film.
Howery: I like when I get to the end of it and that’s where the audience sees the last speech Buddy gives before this big thing happens. It is always weird when you do big speeches like this, you get emotionally tied to it. I remember shooting with Shawn and I had to go take a walk. I wasn’t gonna tear-up in front of him. Buddy has a couple of those moments which is what I love about the character, it’s that his innocence that came with how comfortable he was with his friendship. It is something really beautiful that happens towards the end that Buddy discovers with his best friend. It’s another conversation in the beginning Guy trying to convince him what the sunglasses was showing him. Buddy just stuck to his ways and we just saw the heart of him open and open which is why I live this character so much. People are really surprised how much heart it has. Yeah, you’re gonna tear-up!
Taika Waititi steals the show as villainous Antoine and talks about his character.
Waititi: I didn’t really know what to expect or what I was doing. We had one phone call (with Shawn) and I hadn’t really met you. Shawn described the character and that appealed to me. I just play visions of my mom in all my characters and so this was my little vision of my mom. I’ve actually met a lot of people like this in America and it’s what I think of Americans… at CAA parties.
Utkarsh Ambudkar and Joe Keery tell us about their characters’ catch phrases.
Keery: I think the best catch phrase is ‘catch-phrase’. I think that’s genius. I don’t feel my character really has a catch phrase.
Ambudkar: I don’t remember. Was it ‘Go Time? Yeah it’s Go Time, baby!’. That’s all me. I desperately tried getting Taika’s character on-board in this mentor/mentee-type relationship. Antoine is not having it at all. I think it makes for a funny chemistry between us. All of us got really lucky this whole Cast works really well together. Everyone makes each other look good. It’s rare you get this many people who get this energy going with each other so that’s awesome.
The Gaming industry is not unlike the Film industry in that they are male-dominated. Jodie Comer comments on the parallels in her character(s) and real life.
Comer: It was incredible and a huge part of what attracted me to the piece, especially having this girl Millie and Molotov being a creation of her. It was so important that it was always an essence of Millie but that Molotov was also very different so I really focused on the physicality. There is a lot of nuance within her world and even looking into how male-dominated that industry is, which is kinda similar to my own and those kind of fights we’re definitely up against, and the resilience in which that created in her. There was so much for me to play with. That was always really present and thought about from the moment I got the Script, the first draft to the moments we were on-set playing around, changing things. It was such a great experience bringing my own ideas to play.
Ryan Reynolds and Lil Rel Howery talk about the friendship they formed on and off-screen in FREE GUY.
Reynolds: Rel’s character and I live on this intersection a little bit on the page, a little bit on the moment. But I feel that’s the case of every single person on this webinar. Everybody here’s very good at creating and building and three-dimensionalizing their work. Rel and I immediately clicked. I was a huge fan of his. And we can all say he was a huge fan of Taika. It’s great to get out there, mess around and play and form that bond, and put it up on the big screen.
Howery: I mean for me it’s weird because Ryan Reynolds has been my friend in my head for a really long time. And to this day I don’t think he believes that I’m a legit fan. When he was winning everything with Deadpool I was calling people “I toldja! I toldja Ryan was a superstar!’. I don’t get nervous about meeting anyone but I was really nervous that first day. One of the fun things about this business is you get to work with people you really look up to, not just as an Actor but as a fan. I don’t know he’s gonna be my friend after this movie but we’re gonna enjoy the moment.
Levy and Reynolds tease the possibility of a Franchise for FREE GUY.
Reynolds: I hope we get to this again whether it’s in the form of a Sequel or something else. We’re lucky a couple people in here I’ve gotten to work with multiple times. If it’s not another FREE GUY movie or another movie in another form.
Levy: The short answer is ‘yes’. But I’ve made things that launched franchises and have made enough things to realize you just
I don’t know the outcome. We have flirted with some ideas but my favourite thing in Free Guy is that Taika‘s character in an original movie mocking the idea of releasing something new. It’s so rare a studio lets you make a big budget new movie. So to have Antoine played by Taika talking about sequels and having this cynical attitude towards them. I will say for anyone who’s seen the movie, if we do make Free Guy 2 it will be titled ‘Albuquerque, Boiled Turkey’! If you’ve seen the Movie you’ll get that joke! Based on one of 700 million improvised lines by Taika Waititi!
20th Century Studios Canada release FREE GUY August 13, 2021.
(Photo/video credit: 20th Century Studios)
20th Century Studios Canada x Mr. Will want to give Readers a chance to win Advance Passes to see FREE GUY! Screenings take place as follows:
Toronto – Wednesday, August 11 @ 7:30pm – Scotiabank Theatre
Vancouver – Wednesday, August 11 @ 7:00pm – Scotiabank Theatre
Calgary – Wednesday, August 11 @ 7:00pm – Scotiabank Theatre
Edmonton – Wednesday, August 11 @ 7:00pm – Scotiabank Theatre
Synopsis:
In Twentieth Century Studios’ epic adventure-comedy “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Taika Waititi, “Free Guy” is directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn and a story by Lieberman. The film is produced by Ryan Reynolds, p.g.a., Shawn Levy, p.g.a., Sarah Schechter, Greg Berlanti and Adam Kolbrenner with Mary McLaglen, Josh McLaglen, George Dewey, Dan Levine and Michael Riley McGrath serving as executive producers. FREE GUY is in theatres August 13, 2021.
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Enter for a chance to #win Advance Screening Passes to see #FreeGuy in select cities!
— MR. WILL WONG 📸 (@mrwillw) August 4, 2021
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(Photo/video credit: 20th Century Studios Canada)
Ryan Reynolds is back in FREE GUY! Check-out a brand-new version of the Trailer!
Synopsis:
In “Free Guy,” a bank teller who discovers he is actually a background player in an open-world video game, decides to become the hero of his own story…one he rewrites himself. Now in a world where there are no limits, he is determined to be the guy who saves his world his way…before it is too late. Starring Ryan Reynolds, Jodie Comer, Lil Rel Howery, Joe Keery, Utkarsh Ambudkar and Taika Waititi, “Free Guy” is directed by Shawn Levy from a screenplay by Matt Lieberman and Zak Penn and a story by Lieberman.
20th Century Studios release FREE GUY is in theatres August 13, 2021.
(Photo/video credit: 20th Century Studios)
This hits all the right feels! Not sure if you’ve seen this yet, but Taika Waititi collaborates with Coca-Cola for this outstanding TV Spot for the soft drink maker in time for the Holidays! A father at working at sea is tasked with delivering a letter to Santa for Christmas and he goes to great lengths to get it to him. Tissue, please. A two-minute emotional triumph!
See the Ad:
(Photo/video credit: Coca-Cola)
For advertising opportunites please contact mrwill@mrwillwong.com