Next Goal Wins Trailer Offers First Look At Taika Waititi’s Long-Awaited Sports Film

Taika Waititi looks to shrug off criticism of last summer’s Thor: Love and Thunder with his soccer-themed film The next goal wins and Searchlight Pictures released the first trailer for the film. Based on the documentary of the same name by Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, the film stars Michael Fassbender as Thomas Rongen, a football coach with rather unorthodox training methods, who attempts to transform the United States national team. American Samoa champion after turning 31. -0 losses in 2001. Check out the trailer below.

Alongside Fassbender, the film also stars Elisabeth Moss, Will Arnett, Uli Latukefu, Rhys Darby, Oscar Kightley, Rachel House, Angus Sampson, Russell Satelle, Karim Benz and Chris Aloso, while Fa’afafine actor Kaimana nonbinary will take on the role of Jaiyah Saelua, the first nonbinary player to take part in a World Cup qualifier. Explaining why it was important to cast a non-binary actor in the role, Waititi told Variety:

“It was vital. There was no way we would have approached it any other way.

The production of The next goal wins was not an easy road. The film began shooting in 2019 and wrapped in January 2020, just before the Covid pandemic hit. Although this delayed the film’s release, something that similarly hit a number of films, over the next year abuse allegations made against Armie Hammer saw his role reprized by Will Arnett. , who remade all the Hammers. scenes.

Related: Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins: Plot, Cast & Everything We Know

The Next Goal Wins focuses on a true underdog story

The next goal wins could easily have told of the well-documented humiliating defeat of the American Samoa team by Australia, but that story wasn’t really the interesting thing about the team, and Waititi clearly acknowledged that when he decided how to approach the story he wanted to tell.

For any football team, being crushed 31-0 would be enough to demoralize a group of players into giving up and never kicking a ball again. For the American Samoa team, this defeat is in fact the starting point of history. The film will show their determination to come out of the worst team in the world – literally 203rd out of 203 teams – and win against real opposition, which they finally achieved a decade later in a match against Tonga in 2011 .

The next goal wins may not have the makings of a massive blockbuster, but it can certainly make its mark among some of the most memorable sports films. Michael Fassbender and Elisabeth Moss are more than capable of bringing their A game to their performance, and when fit, Waititi can bring out the best in his casts. Hopefully Waititi will be able to bring balance to The next goal wins that seemed to miss last year Thor: Love and Thunderand will set itself on a good footing to embark on its long-awaited foray into the world of Star Wars in the near future.