Michael Fassbender Says 90% Of Taika Waititi’s Next Goal Wins Was Improvised
Hey, did you know that famed filmmaker Taika Waititi had a new movie in theaters last year? There’s a good chance you didn’t! Because Waititi’s latest, the sports comedy “Next Goal Wins,” had a very muted release following a series of scathing reviews. It’s somewhat shocking to see Waititi flop so hard after seemingly being on top of the filmmaking world just a few years ago. Barry Levitt’s /Film review “awarded” the flick a 2 out of 10, and stated that “‘Next Goal Wins’ feels like it’s made by a director out of ideas — it’s a film made up of lazy, visually vacant, and soulless filmmaking.” Ouch.
In the film, which is based on a true story and a 2014 documentary of the same name, Michael Fassbender (who also appeared in last year’s much better “The Killer”) plays Dutch American football coach Thomas Rongen, who is sent to help the American Samoa national team — considered one of the worst football teams in the world. It has all the makings of an inspirational, feel-good story, but it just didn’t work out that way.
Interestingly enough, during a recent video interview with Vanity Fair, Fassbender revealed that a large chunk of “Next Goal Wins” was improvised.