Taika Waititi has slammed critics of his latest film, Klara and the Sun, starring Jenna Ortega.
He called the critics “sad lost souls” who failed to achieve their dreams of becoming artists, after his adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s book.
The Oscar-winning director took aim at reviewers on social media, with an image that pointed out the difference between the film’s critic score and audience responses.
“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,” Waititi wrote. “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.”
In his 2019 black comedy Jojo Rabbit, Waititi played an imaginary version of Adolf Hitler who befriends a young boy growing up in Nazi Germany.
The film faced some questions at the time about using humour and satire to tackle Nazism, but it was overall well-received, with an 81 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes and winning Waititi the Academy Award for best adapted screenplay.
He ended his post about Klara and the Sun’s critics with the words, “Irrelevant. Out of touch. Obsolete. In the bin.”
Klara and the Sun, set in a dystopian future where androids are sold as companions for humans, stars Jenna Ortega as Klara, an Artificial Friend whose life changes when she is bought by Josie (Mia Tharia), a teenager whose health is deteriorating after undergoing a controversial genetic enhancement procedure.
As Klara tries to understand the human world and the meaning of love, she becomes increasingly devoted to Josie and sets out to help her, while grappling with the grief and tensions within the teenager’s family.
The film opened to particularly harsh reviews after its premiere at the BFI London Film Festival earlier in October, and currently sits at a 26 per cent critics’ score on Rotten Tomatoes, compared with a 78 per cent audience rating.
It is also pertinent to mention that Klara and the Sun has had a disappointing theatrical performance in the US, earning $701,059 during its opening weekend and a further $145,000 in its second weekend.
Made on a reported budget of $20m, the film has brought in approximately $1.74m worldwide, according to Box Office Mojo.
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