After Thor: Love and Thunder, director Taika Waititi is set to come back to Earth with his soccer film Next Goal Wins. The movie stars Michael Fassbender, and we have our first images from the film via Entertainment Weekly.
The first stills from @TaikaWaititi's 'NEXT GOAL WINS' have been released.
(via https://t.co/rHQmdHciLl) pic.twitter.com/MvIZD350IQ
— One Take News (@OneTakeNews) November 21, 2022
Waititi describes the story:
“The story is about the worst soccer team in the world, who famously experienced the biggest loss in an international match against Australia, 31-0, which is about a goal every four minutes… After suffering that huge defeat, they applied to the soccer federation to find a coach who could get them from the very, very bottom of the FIFA rankings.”
Though Waititi is known for his more fantastical films like Jojo Rabbit and Hunt for the Wilderpeople, Next Goal Wins will be his first sports movie that’s actually based on real life. The film actually draws inspiration from a 2014 documentary that has the same name.
Besides Fassbender, the movie also stars Elisabeth Moss who will play Fassbender’s ex-wife. Will Arnett has also joined the cast as a fictional soccer executive. The film also stars Somaon-New Zealand actor Oscar Kightley, and Jaiyah Saelua. Saelua’s character, Kamaina, is actually pretty interesting because she’s a trans player, and is one of the star players of the team. As per Waititi, a lot of the movie centers on the relationship between Kamaina and Rongen (Fassbender’s character).
With the film set to come out April of next year, it could be any time now before we get our first teaser. You’d think they would tease it after the release of Love and Thunder earlier this year, but maybe they wanted to distance Waititi from his superhero career to promote this film. Just a guess.
Next Goal Wins comes to theaters on April 21, 2023.
