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'Next Goal Wins'' feel-good soccer fun
'Next Goal Wins' tells the true story of the American Samoa soccer team and its inspiring turnaround under a new coach. Good Day Atlanta's Paul Milliken recently caught up with director Taika Waititi and one of the team's real-life players.
"I never thought I’d make a sports film."
Well, Taika Waititi, you know what they say: never say never.
The Oscar winner’s latest film is "Next Goal Wins," a sports comedy that tells the true story of a down-on-his-luck coach and the American Samoan soccer team he’s tasked with turning around. Waititi has been working on the film for years, and says it wasn’t the soccer itself that made him want to direct and co-write the picture … it was the players.
"It’s more about people and the characters and the relationships and the culture than just soccer," says the filmmaker.
One of those players is the trailblazing Jaiyah Saelua, the first openly trans athlete to play in a FIFA World Cup qualifier, and an ambassador for equality within the sport.
"I was the only trans person out of 800 delegates to be at the FIFA World Cup Women’s Football Convention," says Saelua. "Things like that … they’re also evidence of the steps that FIFA [is] taking to make football a more diverse community."
For Waititi — who's been busy with blockbusters like "Thor: Ragnarok" and "Thor: Love and Thunder" — "Next Goal Wins" is something of a return to roots.
"My first four films were 25-day shoot. This one was the same," says the director. "Very small crew … .like making a little family to go and harvest images for your film."
"Next Goal Wins" is distributed by Searchlight Pictures and playing in theaters nationwide now.