Sam Rockwell joins Scarlett Johansson in Taika Waititi’s Jojo Rabbit

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

I'm already pretty sure that I'm going to love Taika Waititi's upcoming World War II satire, but throw Sam Rockwell into the the mix, and that "pretty sure" turns into a certainty. THR reports that the THREE BILLBOARDS OUTSIDE EBBING, MISSOURI actor has joined the cast of JOJO RABBIT alongside Scarlett Johansson and Taika Waititi, the latter of whom will be playing a young German boy's imaginary friend who takes on the form of Adolf Hitler. Pardon?

The film centers on Jojo, a "ten-year-old boy who, ridiculed by his peers and misunderstood by his mother, can’t quite figure out how to fit in. As the naïve young German struggles to understand his place in an increasingly Fascist regime, he resorts to an imaginary friend who can offer advice and help him cope." That imaginary friend – Adolf Hitler, although Taika Waititi added that "This is not the Adolf we know and hate, this guy is goofy, charming, and glides through life with a child- like naivety." Jojo also longs to be a part of the Hitler Youth, and when he discovers a Jewish girl living in his attic, he initially tries to find ways to get rid of her before beginning to see her as human. Sam Rockwell will be playing a Nazi captain who runs a Hitler Youth camp while Scarlett Johansson will be playing Jojo's mother, a women who is secretly working for the Resistance. Production on JOJO RABBIT is expected to kick off by late spring.

Sam Rockwell is one of my favourite actors, frequently stealing the show in movies like THE GREEN MILE, GALAXY QUEST, and THE ASSASSINATION OF JESSE JAMES BY THE COWARD ROBERT FORD, and I was pumped when he finally took home the Academy Award for Best Supporting Actor earlier this year. You go, Sam Rockwell! The actor will next be seen in WOMAN WALKS AHEAD alongside Jessica Chastain, which will debut on DirecTV Cinema on May 31, 2018, before its limited release on June 29, 2018.