Source : PERTHNOW NEWS
Taika Waititi has dismissed critics of Klara and the Sun as “irrelevant” and “out of touch”.
The 51-year-old filmmaker’s latest movie – which stars Jenna Ortega and Amy Adams – currently sits at just 26% on Rotten Tomatoes’ Tomatometer critic score, and has been branded “listless”, “uneven”, and lacking in “depth”, but Taika would rather focus on the fact it has a 78% rating from audiences.
Sharing a poster featuring the audience response, he wrote on Instagram: “I haven’t read a review of anything aimed at me or my peers in almost 15 years. But I do listen to the people.
“So this Halloween, let’s spare a thought for those sad lost souls who couldn’t achieve their dreams of becoming artists, and thus settled, and became critics. The same people who also hated Jojo Rabbit. [Cry-laughing and shrugging emojis]
“Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.(sic)”
Despite his comments, the Oscar-winning director’s Jojo Rabbit actually has an 81% critic score and a 94% audience rating.
Taika recently described Klara and the Sun, which sees Jenna Ortega’s titular android trying to adapt to human life after becoming Josie’s (Mia Tharia) companion, as the “most dramatic” project he has ever worked on.
Speaking to SFX magazine, Taika said: “It’s very different to my other stuff.
“It’s the most dramatic thing I’ve done. I think with most of my films the hard part is how to market them. People are gonna look at the trailer and go, ‘It’s a fun romp with robots’, and it’s not, you know?
“It’s a deep meditation on the human condition. I like changing it up. I’m enjoying this little foray into the dramatic side of myself.”
The director admitted he felt out of his depth working with Ortega and was pleased that the Wednesday star frequently challenged his approach to the film.
He said: “All the actors I’ve cast in this, but Jenna especially because she carried everything, really saved my a*** in a lot of ways.
“You always want that, because I’m always worried with someone who just goes along with whatever I say.”
Klara and the Sun is adapted from Kazuo Ishiguro’s novel of the same name and Taika was pleased to get a “supportive nod” from the Japanese-British writer.
He said: “He was very open about saying, ‘I’ve done my bit. Now I’m handing it over to you to do what you want with it, as long as you don’t screw it up and stay somewhat faithful to it, then it’s yours.’
“So that was really cool just to be given that supportive nod.”
Waititi shot the film in his native New Zealand and says that the country’s landscape added to the story.
The director said: “I wanted to stay true to the book with everything, but I wanted to spend a little bit more time when she’s out in the fields.
“I’m not gonna say, ‘Make the wheat fields a character’, but… they’re there all the time, and the landscape is so prominent, both in New Zealand but also in the book.
“Ra Vincent, who’s done most of my films’ production design, made some pretty bold choices with that house as well. We were looking at, ‘What could it possibly look like, slightly in the future? What are the trends?'”
