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Sam Rockwell Joins Taika Waititi & Scarlett Johansson’s Jojo Rabbit
Sam Rockwell has signed on to appear alongside Scarlett Johansson in Taika Waititi’s Nazi Germany satire Jojo Rabbit. Coming off directing the smash hit Thor: Ragnarok, eccentric New Zealand filmmaker Waititi has signed on to write and direct Jojo Rabbit, a project that can only be described as bizarre. The story involves a young boy living in Nazi Germany who dreams of joining the Hitler Youth and imagines that Adolf Hitler is his best friend. Then, he discovers a Jewish girl living in his attic and everything changes.
In addition to writing, directing, and producing Jojo Rabbit, Waititi will also play Adolf Hitler, or at least, the boy’s imaginary version of Hitler. It’s quite a leap going from the relatively wholesome world of the MCU to an outright satire that involves Hitler. Casting-wise, Scarlett Johansson has already signed on to Jojo Rabbit to play the young lead character’s mother, who is secretly a member of the Resistance.
THR reports that Oscar-winning actor Sam Rockwell is joining Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit. Rockwell reportedly will play a Nazi captain who runs a Hitler youth camp. Apparently, Rockwell wanted to find a role that would be even more controversial than his racist cop character in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri. Going full-on Nazi should do the trick.
This marks the second time Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson have starred together, after both appeared in Iron Man 2. While Johansson would go on to reprise her Black Widow role in multiple MCU movies, Rockwell’s own character Justin Hammer has since disappeared (save for one Marvel One-Shot). However, Rockwell did recently say he would be open to once again playing Tony Stark’s rival. With Waititi directing, there’s a lot of MCU talent packed into Jojo Rabbit thus far.
Long before his Oscar-winning turn in Martin McDonagh’s Three Billboards, Rockwell had already established himself as one of Hollywood’s most dynamic actors. Rockwell worked steadily throughout the ’90s in supporting roles before enjoying his breakout performance as “Wild Bill” Wharton in The Green Mile. Rockwell’s first big starring break came as Chuck Barris in the 2002 drama Confessions of a Dangerous Mind. In 2009, Rockwell gave a memorable performance as a clone living all alone on a moon base in Duncan Jones’ sci-fi drama Moon. Later this year, Rockwell plays former president George W. Bush in Adam McKay’s Dick Cheney biopic Backseat. He has also signed on to voice the character of Ivan in The One and Only Ivan.
As has been evidenced throughout his career, Sam Rockwell is the kind of actor who will take on any role, regardless of how challenging and strange it might be. And Rockwell tends to deliver a solid performance filled with crazy energy most of the time. Rockwell pairing up with the always entertaining and often bonkers Taika Waititi for Jojo Rabbit could prove to be very entertaining.
