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" I had a country upbringing in a predominantly Maori community, and that contrasted with a very multi-cultured arts community in the Aro Valley in Wellington: growing up around a lot of theatre and poets and writers and stuff. "

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" My favourite kind of comedy comes from the awkwardness of living, the stuff that makes you cringe but borders on tragic - that is more interesting to me. It resonates; it comes from emotional truth. "

Taika Waititi

Interesting

You

Truth

" I think... part of life skills is also socialising... I think many people make the mistake of not going out... You can spend a little bit too much time with your nose in your book or with your fingers on a keyboard, and you miss out. "

" There's nothing cooler than going to work and hanging around with your friends and laughing, because it's something that you get told off for throughout your entire time at school... it's just like a big 'in your face' to those bully teachers that you had when you were a kid. "

" One of my favourite books when I was young was 'Wuthering Heights.' "

" New Zealand was kind of getting a reputation for making middle-of-the-road films that weren't really that unique. They were kind of New Zealand versions of overseas films, and for sure, having an Oscar nomination totally helped me get funding. "

Taika Waititi

Reputation

Sure

" I think I'm a better filmmaker than actor, so I already know that. That's OK. I can handle not being a famous actor. "

" The family unit is very interesting because these are people that you're supposed to be the closest to in your life, and yet that's where you find the greatest distances between people as well - especially between parents and kids. "

" When I play characters, I like playing people who just comment on stuff, stand around and talk. "

" Films that are easy to sell happen to be the worst films. Look at the poster for 'Wrath of the Titans' and 'John Carter': they're exactly the same. You could switch titles. "

" New Zealand was such a weird place in the 1980s. For instance, we used to have this commercial in the late 1970s where this guy drives this car and stops outside a corner store. He goes in to buy something, and when he comes out, his car is gone. He's like, 'Huh?' Then a voice says, 'Don't leave your keys in the car.' "

" My style of working is I'll often be behind the camera, or right next to the camera yelling words at people, like, 'Say this, say this! Say it this way!' I'll straight-up give Anthony Hopkins a line reading. I don't care. "

" I've never been a guy who was anal about housework. A typical Wellington flat when I was flatting was a warehouse with, basically, sheets hung up for walls. "

Taika Waititi

Walls

Been

" As kids, we all thought Bob Marley was Maori. "

" You realise that there's nothing more endearing than people who are desperately trying to be liked or trying to be the hero, you know? Who also probably just need a hug or want to impress their dad? "

" Visually, I'm always considering shots and composition quite a lot, and I love putting art into films, and I do a lot of the art. "

" You make up a character, there's always gonna be parts of you that, like it or not, shine through. "

" Characters I create are just mixtures of the people I know. "

" A lot of people are trying to get out of their home country and think 'making it' is if you're able to work in another. For me... I'd be quite content to keep doing my own little films down there for the rest of my filmmaking career. "

" There are 100,000 versions of Jeff Goldblum. "

Taika Waititi

Versions

Jeff

" I really didn't want to be boxed into becoming a certain kind of film-maker - becoming the Maori story film-maker because I had made those short films. "

" Not every person can be an artist: we need people to run stuff. "

" I come from a country whose idea of masculinity is quite extreme, and I've grown up around a lot of that energy. I've been part of that a lot. And it's very draining; it's quite tiring trying to be macho. "

" In a lot of my films, the biggest theme is family, making families out of those around you. "

" Shooting a movie should be fun! It's not a real job. It can be hard, but at the end of the day, we're dressing up and playing pretend. "

" I always wanted to play a dapper gentleman, and I also always wanted to play my mum. "

" Independent films are really the best ones out there. They're the most original stories, and they're very good. "

" Anyone who has a parent can relate to this idea of not quite understanding who your parents are or making up stories about them. "

" I was depressed about the roles that were on offer, so I had to make my own stories. "

" That's what attracts me to the kind of characters I try and write - that they're not cut and dried. "

" In my films, a lot of the situations come from real life. "