Toronto: At the world premiere of Jojo Rabbit at the Toronto International Film Festival on Sunday, the star cast of the film spoke about their roles and what made them believe in their characters.
When Scarlett Johansson was asked how did she choose the film, she said that she trusted her gut feeling as always.
"I never go into a film thinking about what the greater message is going to be and how it will be received by audiences because you just don't know. You can only go with your heart when you choose to sign on for something. The script of this film was so – it was such a beautiful gem, it was so beautifully written.
It's so rare to have the opportunity that - these scripts just don't come around that often. Taika just did such a beautiful job telling this story through the eyes of a child and by using humour sort of draws the audience in, it allows them to, you know, have these moments of profound reflection. So, that's why I signed on to do this, more than anything else."
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She added, "I trusted Taika's intention. I felt that if anybody could make this, it would be him, and I went with that gut feeling."
Actor-writer-director Taika Waititi who plays an imaginary Hitler in the film gave an insight into his character.
"Well this imaginary Hitler that I play, thankfully is not the real Hitler, who I've no real interest in having a real depiction of him in my film. But he's a mixture of Jojo's, you know, from his father, who he misses very much and needs a father figure in his life.
So, he's conjured up this character who is a mixture of his father and Adolf Hitler, and probably has some of his other heroes kind of mashed in there as well. So, for me, it was not ever a risky thing to do, because I think it's very important to show his mindset and where he is through the whole film."
The upcoming satirical comedy revolves around a lonely German boy JoJo "Rabbit" Betzler (Roman Griffin Davis), whose life is turned upside after discovering that his mother Rosie (Johansson) is hiding a Jewish girl in their attic during World War II. The only person he feels he can truly count on is his imaginary friend Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi).
The movie also stars Game Of Thrones star Alfie Allen and Roman Griffin Davis who plays 10-year-old Jojo in the film.
Directed by Waititi, Jojo Rabbit will hit the US theatres on October 18.
