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‘Next Goal Wins’ Poster Teases Taika Waititi’s Next!! Check It Out!!

Taika Waititi has given fans a glimpse of the first poster for his upcoming – although not as upcoming as we would like – soccer comedy, Next Goal Wins, and the irreverent director has promised this is his “least cynical movie” yet.

The movie stars Michael Fassbender as Thomas Rongen, a Dutch soccer coach who finds himself on the other side of the world put in charge of the planet’s worst soccer team. After suffering a world record loss for a competitive international football match – a crushing 31-0 defeat to Australia – the American Samoa national team sought to uncover a hidden spark within their side by appointing a new and innovative coach with some different ideas. The move to appoint Rongen as boss was covered in a 2014 documentary which also went by Next Goal Wins, and Waititi saw enough promise from the documentary to be able to make a feature film from it.

“Years ago, I watched it and couldn’t believe I’d never heard of this story before. I’d never made a sports film before, and I really wanted to try that out. It’s about a sport I don’t know that much about. Rugby is the national sport in New Zealand, but it’s about underdogs, and I just love underdog stories. Most of my films are about people who live on the margins, or are a little bit left out, and it just fit right in for me. It’s a true story, but it’s got all the elements that all the great sports films have. It’s basically the Cool Runnings of soccer.”

Fassbender plays the role of Rongen who, as explained by Waititi, was the only one to answer the call when it came to finding a new coach for the team. “He had a pretty good playing career, and then he had a bunch of coaching jobs in the States. He was really the only person who answered the call. He was the one who said, ‘Yeah, I’ll go down there and give it a go.'”

Who Else Appears in Next Goal Wins?

In addition to Fassbender, the film will also feature Elisabeth Moss and Will Arnett, as Rongen’s ex-wife, and a soccer executive respectively. Samoan-New Zealand actor Oscar Kightley also features, playing the head of American Samoa’s soccer federation, as well as Kamaina, who plays the trans football player Jaiyah Saelua. Of Jaiya, Waititi says: “Jaiya is a trans player — one of the star players of the team — and a lot of the film revolves around her relationship with Thomas Rongen.”

Next Goal Wins was co-written by Waititi and Iain Morris. The film’s cast also includes David Fane, Beulah Koale, Lehi Falepapalangi, Semu Filipo, Uli Latukefu, and Rachel House. It was produced by Waititi, Jonathan Cavendish, Garrett Basch, Mike Brett, and Steve Jamison.

The film is now set to release on November 17, 2023. You can check out the new poster down below.

via Collider

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