15 Facts about Taika Waititi and What He Does in the Limelight

The man, the myth, the kiwi. The Academy Award winner whose best role is probably Hitler has traveled a long and weird road from where he started. What We Do in Shadows was his first big claim to fame, but since then he's been in everything from Marvel to HBO – he's ridden the gamut of films all the way around, high culture to well, whatever the new Thor movie is about. 

From his start making art in New Zealand till the time he fell asleep at the Oscars to whatever the hell he and Jemaine Clement are up to, Taika Waititi's been making some of the weirder and more interesting stuff around, including potentially the world's largest fishing hook. Here are some facts and figures about the Oscar-winning director who you probably only know because he made Thor hot. Here's some fun trivia you can pull out, and if you win the next pun night throw us a hot pretzel with that good cheese sauce. Just directly at your computer. We'll get it.

15

CRACKED.COM LF Taika Waititi Не made Jojo Rabbit because his mom asked him to. It was Waititi's mother, Robin Cohen, who suggested he should adapt Christine Leunens' novel Caging Skies. Several details (like the imaginary Hitler) came from Waititi himself.

Source: Variety

14

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Не has several hidden roles in Thor: Ragnarok. In addition to playing Korg, he also did the motion capture for the demon Surtur, was a head of a three-headed alien, and acted as a stand-in for Hulk when Mark Ruffalo wasn't available.

Source: Screen Rant

13

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi He's an actual pirate. Не got the job of directing Thor: Ragnarok via a demo reel put together with clips of movies he illegally downloaded.

Source: Cinemablend

12

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi What We Do in the Shadows began as a short film. Waititi and Jemaine Clement's vampire mockumentary was originally made as a short movie with a long title: What We Do in the Shadows: Interviews With Some Vampires.

Source: Screen Rant

11

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Не got the first live- action voice Emmy. His role as IG-11 in The Mandalorian landed him the first live-action Oscar nomination in the category Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance.

Source: Cinemablend

10

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi I was doing nothing wrong. That's how Waititi has shrugged off questions about his intimate scene with Rita Ora and Tessa Thompson that was caught by paparazzi. Well, he must certainly have done something right.

Source: The Independent

9

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Не illustrated a horror anthology. Jo Randerson's The Keys to Hell, a book of twisted fairytales, features illustrations by Waititi.

Source: Google Books

8

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Wellington Paranormal The What We Do in the Shadows show is not the first spin-off of the movie. Wellington Paranormal is.

Source: Entertainment Weekly

5

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi He's a friend from work! The gag in Thor: Ragnarok was an idea from a kid visiting the set.

Source: Digital Spy

4

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Reservation Dogs 00 BEEM LE Waititi co-created this show, notable for being one of the first to have an almost wholly indigenous cast and crew.

Source: Seven Days

3

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Не was the manager of Flight of the Conchords. Waititi played the duo's manager before Rhys Darby took over.

Source: World of Taika

2

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Не won an architecture award. Waititi worked with an architecture firm to design a huge sculpture for the city of Wellington, New Zealand. It was never built, but the project got an award.

Source: World of Taika

1

CRACKED.COM Taika Waititi Не will do a Star Wars movie. Other projects he has include a Jodorowsky adaptation, a live-action Akira, and Flash Gordon.

Sources: Polygon, IMDb