Taika Waititi Can’t Remember His Most Lethal Character’s Name
Taika Waititi sat down for an interview and promptly forgot the name of one of his best characters. You have to see it play out.
Taika Waititi is involved with so many projects and major productions these days that I think we can forgive the guy if he has trouble keeping things straight now and again. Heck, this dude has major flicks with Marvel, is working on Star Wars material, and is even starring in a hit series about pirates. So if sometimes characters and names from his previous works and projects get jumbled in his head, who could blame the dude at all? But that’s just what happened in a recent sit-down with Waititi completely stumbling over the name of a character he actually voiced in a major franchise.
While sitting down with Wired’s Autocomplete Interviews, Taika Waititi let on that he might not have a photographic memory for the stuff he’s done lately. And he seemed more than a little embarrassed about it. As part of this kind of interview, the person is asked to answer Google’s auto-complete feature when the person’s name is typed in. This has led to some pretty funny admissions from other celebrities and it tripped up Waititi here when he was asked about who he played in The Mandalorian. Check it out:
Whoops. While on the one hand, it would make sense that Taika Waititi would have some trouble remembering the name of a droid he voiced for just three episodes on The Mandalorian. But then you considered some of the other things that happened in and around these episodes and with this character and you would think that the director would have just a bit better recall about IG-11. For starters, Taika Waititi directed the episode “Chapter 8: Redemption” in which IG-11 heroically sacrifices itself so that the others can escape the ambush at the end of the lava river. It was a pretty beautiful moment for the show, clearly humanizing the droid character.
And then consider that Taika Waititi was actually nominated for a Primetime Emmy Award for Outstanding Character Voice-Over Performance for his take on IG-11 in that The Mandalorian season. You would think with those two pieces coupled together that Waititi would have been able to pull the name just a bit easier. But alas, this is a dude with a lot on his plate so we’ll let it slide. He’s earned it.
As for what Taika Waititi has going on these days, well, it’s quite a bit. He’s set to release Thor: Love and Thunder this July and by the early trailers, the movie looks simply glorious. There is a ton going on for the God of Thunder’s redemption, and soul-searching arc that could really define that character’s place in the franchise.
And that’s not all. Taika Waititi is also in pre-production on a new Star Wars film though details on that one are being kept tightly under wraps. Plus there’s a Tower of Terror flick as well. Oh, and Our Flag Means Death was just renewed. And don’t forget Next Goal Wins, Akira, and Time Bandits. See what I mean? The guy can stand to forget a character here and there.
