{"id":633448,"date":"2026-10-17T12:52:14","date_gmt":"2026-10-17T12:52:14","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/633448\/"},"modified":"2026-10-17T12:52:14","modified_gmt":"2026-10-17T12:52:14","slug":"taika-waititi-interview-director-got-some-dad-points-with-his-kids-working-with-jenna-ortega-on-klara-and-the-sun-exclusive","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/633448\/","title":{"rendered":"Taika Waititi interview: Director \u2018got some dad points\u2019 with his kids working with Jenna Ortega on Klara and the Sun | Exclusive"},"content":{"rendered":"

Exclusive: New Zealand director Taika Waititi<\/a> has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Chris Hemsworth<\/a>, Scarlett Johansson<\/a> and Sam Neill<\/a>.<\/p>\n

But it\u2019s one of the stars of his new film Klara and the Sun<\/a>, Jenna Ortega<\/a>, that\u2019s left his teenage daughters impressed.<\/p>\n

\"Director<\/p>\n

Taika Waititi has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, but it\u2019s the star of his latest film that\u2019s given the director cred with his daughters.\u00a0AP Photo\/Scott A Garfitt<\/p>\n

\u201cI got some dad points for sure, my kids were very excited by that,\u201d he tells nine.com.au at the film\u2019s London premiere. <\/p>\n

\u201cThey were like, \u2018Good move, Dad\u2019.\u201d<\/p>\n

The actress \u2013 best known to audiences as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday \u2013 plays the titular character of Klara in the adaptation of the popular book by Nobel Prize-winning author Kazuo Ishiguro.<\/p>\n

Ortega plays an artificial friend who comes into the lives of one family at a critical time and asks the sun gods to help the daughter in the family, Josie.<\/p>\n

Cillian Murphy\u2019s son, Aran Murphy, plays Josie\u2019s love interest and childhood best friend, Rick.<\/p>\n

\"Taika<\/p>\n

Waititi tells nine.com.au his now teenage daughters were very excited by the casting.\u00a0Lisa Maree Williams\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\"Taika<\/p>\n

The actress \u2013 best known to audiences as Wednesday Addams in the Netflix series Wednesday \u2013 plays the titular character of Klara in the adaptation of the book Klara and the Sun.\u00a0Sony Pictures Entertainment\/Matt Grace<\/p>\n

While Aran was starstruck by his director, as a long-time fan of Waititi\u2019s \u201csince I was really little\u201d, he too was blown away by his co-star.<\/p>\n

\u201cJenna is so incredible in every way,\u201d he tells nine.com.au on the red carpet. <\/p>\n

\u201cShe\u2019s so immensely talented and lovely.\u201d<\/p>\n

Josie\u2019s mum, Chrissie, is played by six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams, who says she had a profound understanding of the role.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think one of the things that I identified with Chrissie the most was this idea of regret as a mother and constantly questioning your choices,\u201d she says on the red carpet.<\/p>\n

\"(L-R)<\/p>\n

Josie\u2019s mum, Chrissie, is played by six-time Oscar nominee Amy Adams (centre), who says she had a profound understanding of the role.\u00a0Gareth Cattermole\/Getty Images<\/p>\n

\u201cConstantly wanting to do the best for your child, and never knowing exactly what that is, but really hoping for the best and sort of letting go of shame and regret for the choices that may not have worked out.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u2018Dear friends of mine now\u2019<\/p>\n

Klara and the Sun was shot Waititi\u2019s native New Zealand, a process he describes as \u201cmore like working with family\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cI love shooting in New Zealand because it\u2019s my home, and you know I\u2019ve worked with these crews for years,\u201d Waititi tells nine.com.au.<\/p>\n

\u201cA lot of them are dear friends of mine now, so it feels just more like working with family \u2026 just going back home is just so great.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"Klara<\/p>\n

Klara and the Sun was shot in Taika Waititi\u2019s native New Zealand, a process he describes as \u201cmore like working with family\u201d.\u00a0Sony Pictures Entertainment<\/p>\n

Kiwi actress Rachel House, who has known and worked with Waititi for almost 30 years, tells nine.com.au the duo arranged a special start to the shoot.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a traditional p\u014dwhiri, which is just like a Welcome to Country in Australia, our version of it, and that was beautiful,\u201d House reveals.<\/p>\n

\u201cEvery time we have an international film like this, we feel very proud, and we know our country is phenomenally beautiful. There\u2019s so much to give.\u201d<\/p>\n

House, who plays housekeeper Melania, worked very closely with Ortega and Adams during the shoot and said she and Adams bonded over music.<\/p>\n

\"Amy<\/p>\n

Kiwi actress Rachel House worked very closely with Ortega (right) and Adams (left) during the shoot and said she and Adams bonded over music.\u00a0Sony Pictures Entertainment\/Matt Grace<\/p>\n

\u201cJenna is so disciplined and so professional, she\u2019s really fantastic, and Amy is a dream,\u201d she tells nine.com.au. <\/p>\n

\u201cI mean, we sang a lot, Amy and I … just a lot of those sort of torch songs, those very deep songs about love, we sang them a lot. It was nice.\u201d<\/p>\n

Klara and the Sun is in cinemas across Australia on October 22.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Exclusive: New Zealand director Taika Waititi has worked with some of the biggest names in Hollywood, including Chris…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":633449,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[430,156,111,139,69],"class_list":["post-633448","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-new-zealand","tag-newzealand","tag-nz"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633448","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=633448"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/633448\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/633449"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=633448"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=633448"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/nz\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=633448"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}