Taika Waititi won his first Oscar on Sunday, February 9th. He won in the Best Adapted Screenplay category for his 2019 film Jojo Rabbit. He took home a little golden man in exchange for a beautiful, brash and bewildering tale about a young boy with an imaginary friend in the form of Adolf Hitler.

Jojo Rabbit is based on Christine Leunens’s book Caging Skies. It’s impressive that a fairly unknown property was able to contend with such venerable competition. Jojo went up against Greta Gerwig’s beloved retelling of Little Women and Todd Phillips’ take on the Joker character. Other nominees included Anthony McCarten for The Two Popes and Steve Zaillian for The Irishman. In the end, none could defeat a ten-year-old Nazi.

My speculation is this:

My hypothesis is that Disney secretly pulled the strings to ensure Waititi won his Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar. “Why,” you ask? By bolstering his stature in the industry they would be able to more effectively market future Waititi-directed Disney properties.

Jojo Rabbit was Waititi’s first directorial outing since helming Marvel’s Thor: Ragnarok in 2017. Audiences loved it and it equipped him with far more name recognition than he’d had for any of his previous films. If Ragnarok is any indication (it is) then it only makes sense that Disney would be interested in making Taika a star in their lineup.

Fox Searchlight produced Jojo Rabbit. However, how do we know that Disney didn’t influence the film’s rollout? Disney could have used some of its clout to influence the Best Adapted Screenplay outcome. I smell a “hiding in plain sight” style conspiracy in which Disney pulled strings to ensure that Taika won his Oscar in an attempt to bolster his reputation.

Would This Be Possible?

Realistically? No, probably not. But it’s possible. So let’s think about it.

The Academy is comprised of over 7,000 voting members, ranging from directors and actors to producers and executives. This article on The Hollywood Reporter discusses how The Academy has expanded its voting body. It states that the list of voters now includes those such as Matt Brodie, who just left Netflix to run programming at Disney’s forthcoming streaming service, and Cathleen Taff, president of worldwide distribution at Disney, just to name a couple. If these are the people who are voting, why wouldn’t they vote for Waititi?

With Taika’s win, Thor: Love and Thunder advertisements can say, “directed by Oscar Winner Taika Waititi”. This could become a major selling point to unassuming viewers when the film premieres in November 2021. I don’t have any statistics, but some sort of correlation must exist between that type of Oscars verified name recognition and ticket sales. It may be enough of a correlation to prompt a slanting of the odds at voting time. Admittedly, I have no idea how this conspiracy would work physically or technically. However, if the proper hands were shaken it wouldn’t be difficult for Disney executives to make their desires known.

Why Disney Would Pull The Strings

Ragnarok was a risky play by Marvel. They signed a comedy director from New Zealand and plugged him into a massive action franchise. The pairing had some people scratching their heads, including me. I couldn’t figure out why Taika would want to mess around with a lowly Thor franchise. I thought his time would be better spent knocking out original bangers like Hunt For The Wilderpeople. The doubters were wrong though. The gamble paid off handsomely as the film earned $854 million worldwide.

That figure came thanks to the comedic tone struck by Waititi’s pen and direction. His wry Kiwi humor was a major rebranding for the Thor franchise and Marvel movies in general. Marvel had previously struggled to find the proper ratio of humor to drama. Or perhaps the ratio was fine but the jokes weren’t any good. 

Marvel won big with this one after the flop monster that was Thor: The Dark World (2013). Waititi gave his voice both figuratively in his direction and literally as he voiced the scene-stealing rock-man Korg. The fresh comedy gave Hemsworth’s Thor character a much-needed revival and rebranding.

I believe Thor’s new persona in Avengers: Infinity War and Endgame accounted for a major piece of their success. Sure, Joe and Anthony Russo wrote those films so they’re to thank for the comedic success of the Avengers. But it was Taika who handed them a rebranded Thor and improved Hulk. Of course, Iron Man and Captain America were doing their thing. But having Thor as a main attraction rather than an expendable and forgettable side one was huge. And that’s the work of Mr. Waititi. 

What I’m saying is that Disney needs Taika. 

Taika and Disney Moving Forward

Disney execs saw the writing on the wall: Taika is good for business. They wisely rushed to get a new Thor movie greenlit ASAP after the end of Marvel’s Phase 1. We know for sure there will be at least one more Taika-directed Marvel movie. Disney often milks a good thing for all it’s worth. So if Thor: Love and Thunder is a hit like Ragnarok, you know there will be people calling for another. 

On top of releasing Jojo Rabbit in 2019, he dipped his toes into the Star Wars universe. He voiced IG-88, a bounty droid, in Season 1 of The Mandalorian. His presence was subtle but significant as the show became one of the most successful tv series of the year. Waititi also directed the final episode of that show, further entrenching him in the Star Wars franchise. His involvement seemingly poises him up to helm future episodes.

Or perhaps future movies? I’m predicting a Taika-directed Star Wars spinoff in the vein of Rogue One (2016) or Solo (2018). There hasn’t been any indication of this from Disney or Lucas Film, it’s merely a personal musing of mine. Many fans were somewhat (*cough cough*) disappointed with 2019’s The Rise of Skywalker. Following that, I think it would be smart business for them to follow in Marvel’s footsteps by tapping Waititi. 

The past few years indicate that Taika will be able to balance projects like Thor and Star Wars with more personal, original ones. According to IMDb, he’s currently in production on a movie titled, Next Goal Wins, and a television series adaptation of Terry Gilliam’s 1981 film, Time Bandits. We’ll have to wait and see what the timeline is for these and how they will align with Season 2 of The Mandalorian. 

What Would Jojo Rabbit Have Been Without Disney?

Would Taika have been able to win his Oscar without the success of that film and his subsequent support from Disney? While Jojo is a very good film (it was one of my favorites of the year), it’s dubious whether it would have landed such big star power, including a nominated performance from another Marvel alum, Scarlett Johansson, or such intensive marketing promotion come awards season without Taika’s newfound connection to the Disney Company. 

Waititi saw zero recognition from The Academy prior to Jojo. He was a cult figure with a small and fervent fanbase before he tangled with Marvel. Again, it’s a good movie and it deserved its acclaim, but Jojo Rabbit isn’t necessarily the best film or best screenplay of Waititi’s career. It’s simply the first one he’s made since having directed Thor. 

In my book, his best film is Boy (2010), closely followed by What We Do In The Shadows (2013). The latter is a pillar of recent comedies for those in the know. I also adored 2016’s Hunt For The Wilderpeople. Sadly though, The Academy did not recognize or nominate any of these completely original stories for major awards. It took the Disney engine behind him to launch his name into the Oscars arena.

Should He Have Won?

I’m disappointed that the award wasn’t able to go to Greta Gerwig for her adaptation of Little Women. Jojo is great but its presentation is mostly straight-forward and traditionally structured. Gerwig’s Little Women script is inventive and unique in its non-chronology. The movie’s success hinges squarely upon Gerwig’s version of the adaptation and the way she decided to tell that story. Taika [and Disney] ruined our chance to see a woman win a major award. 

That said, Taika winning his first Oscar thrilled me. If it couldn’t go to Greta then I’m happy to see it go to him. He’s had a brilliant career, made the best vampire movie ever, gave us Ragnarok, and then made an ambitious Hitler comedy. I think that deserves recognition and reward. In a sense, his win for Jojo was a belated coronation after many years of quality work. He’s one of the brightest stars in Hollywood right now and I’m excited to see him shine for many years. 

One Last Thing

These ideas in no way reflect my true feelings about Waititi as an artist. I’m actually a very big Taika fan. I’ve been enamored with his irreverent wit and deadpan deliveries ever since What We Do In The Shadows. This article is merely thought-piece poppycock with no basis in fact. While I do find my own theory entirely plausible, I do not assert it as fact nor does it signify any ill-regard for Waititi or the Disney Company.

Follow me on Twitter for updates on my #WaititiConspiracy while we wait for Thor: Love and Thunder.