The World War II setting and fantasy Hitler features of Thor: Ragnarok director Taika Waititi's next film would appear, on first blush, to be one likely to keep big names away. Yet with Scarlett Johansson is already starring, and Sam Rockwell will now join her.
Jojo Rabbit, which Waititi also wrote, will be a satire set to feature a young boy named Jojo who lives in Germany under the Nazi rule and longs to be part of the Hitler Youth. He counts as his imaginary friend, one Adolph Hitler (Waititi himself), and when he discovers his mother (Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic, he wants to get rid of her, only to learn that she's just as human as he is.
Rockwell has agreed to play a Nazi captain who runs one of the regime's Youth camps, and Waititi will start the cameras rolling later in the spring, with Fox Searchlight providing the backing. The actor, who scored an Oscar this year for his turn in Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri, will appear as George W. Bush in Adam McKay's Backseat and is lending his voice to family film The One And Only Ivan.
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