PITCH PERFECT

NEXT GOAL WINS Taika Waititi teams with Michael Fassbender for an underdog comedy.

If you’re more into films than football, you still might be aware of American Samoa’s historic 31-0 loss to Australia in a World Cup qualifier in 2001, which is the starting point for 2014 documentary Next Goal Wins and Taika Waititi’s loosely adapted film of the same name.

Like the doc, Waititi’s new comedy follows the hapless South Pacific team’s fortunes as they try to qualify for the 2014 tournament under the leadership of US-based coach Thomas Rongen, played here by Michael Fassbender. Next Goal Wins’ premiere at the 2023 Toronto International Film Festival in September had been a long time coming; shot at the end of 2019 and the beginning of 2020, the film was delayed by both the pandemic and Waititi’s Marvel Cinematic Universe commitments.

‘After [the pandemic], I went off and shot and put out Thor: Love and Thunder [the MCU sequel released in July 2022],’ Waititi explains to Teasers at TIFF. ‘And then once that was done, I then got back into finishing this. There was a good year and a half when I didn’t edit on this – Ididn’t do anything.’

It was, he says, ‘quite a nice experience… It was nice to come back to it with a little bit of time and distance. Everyone likes to rush, and thinks their first draft is genius… You’ve become a different person by the time you come back. You know exactly what’s wrong with the story.’

Talking of coming back, this autumn festival season saw Fassbender return with a double whammy (he also starred in David Fincher’s

The Killer at Venice), having not been in a film since 2019’s X-Men: Dark Phoenix.

‘He’s living his best life, racing Le Mans and being a Porsche driver,’ says Waititi of his leading man. ‘He was about to take a big break and just race cars, and then I talked to him. He graciously came back for a bit longer.’ Fassbender’s better known for intense dramas than knockabout comedies. Rongen is something of a straight man compared to the winningly goofy, self-deprecating American Samoa players he coaches, but there are still plenty of opportunities for Fassbender to get comedy shots on target.

‘I’ve always just loved watching him, and I knew, deep down, that he could be funny,’ says Waititi. ‘And he is an incredibly funny guy. I like finding actors and doing things with them that maybe isn’t what they’re known for, or isn’t their comfort zone. It’s really lovely with him, discovering that he’s got a real knack for comedy.’

‘[Michael Fassbender]’s one of the best improvisers I’ve ever seen’

TAIKA WAITITI

It sounds like he was right at home in Waititi’s improvisational squad. ‘I know it sounds crazy, and also it sounds like I’m just promoting something,’ says the director, ‘but he’s one of the best improvisers I’ve ever seen.’ And when it comes to scouting comedy talent, he’d know. MATT MAYTUM

NEXT GOAL WINS OPENS IN CINEMAS ON 26 DECEMBER.