Trivia / Jojo Rabbit

• Accidentally-Correct Writing: Waititi refused to do research before getting into the role of Adolf, believing Hitler didn't deserve a historically accurate portrayal. However, in one scene, Adolf is wearing a Native American headdress, which actually correlates to one lesser-known fact about him: he was a fan of Karl May, who often wrote books with Native American protagonists.
• Approval of God: Christine Leunens, the author of Caging Skies (which the film was loosely based on), has stated that she found the film to be amazing.
• California Doubling: The movie was shot in The Czech Republic, which has towns looking very similar to those in Germany at the time, with the added benefit of still being partially crumbling and destroyed.
• Descended Creator: Taika Waititi portrays Jojo's imaginary friend version of Adolf Hitler, and wrote, directed, and produced the film.
• Enforced Method Acting: Deliberately avoided by Waititi. He declined to do any research on Hitler's real life mannerisms and speech patterns, feeling Hitler doesn't deserve a historically accurate performance.
• Fake Nationality:
  • Taika Waititi plays an (imaginary) Adolf Hitler, an Austrian, while being a Kiwi of Māori, Ashkenazi Jewish, and Irish descent himself.
  • None of the significant German characters are played by German actors. Roman Griffin Davis, Stephen Merchant, Alfie Allen, and Archie Yates are British. Scarlett Johansson and Sam Rockwell are American. Thomasin McKenzie is from New Zealand. Rebel Wilson is Australian.
• Jews Playing Nazis:
  • Taika Waititi plays an imaginary Adolf Hitler. On top of the rather obvious Fake Nationality, Waititi is Jewish, and has even used his mother's very Jewish maiden name (Cohen) professionally.
  • Scarlett Johansson plays Rosie, who has Nazi-preferred "Aryan" looks while actually being a part of the German Resistance and hiding a Jewish girl in her house. Johansson herself is Jewish.
• Making Use of the Twin: The Hitler Youth includes a group of identical blond boys who are referred to as "the clones". They were played by a pair of identical twins (Roman Griffin Davis’s older brothers) to reduce the amount of post-production trickery required.
• Playing with Character Type:
  • Taika Waititi initially retains his trademark quirkiness as Jojo's imaginary friend, but with that friend being Adolf Hitler, his performance also has hints of genuine menace that become more blatant as the film goes on.
  • Stephen Merchant is nearly always a cheerful, lovable fellow in the films he appears in. Here, he plays an Affably Evil Gestapo officer who doesn't outwardly seem much different from his usual characters, save for the whole antisemitic genocide thing.
  • Sam Rockwell frequently plays racist hicks, cowardly bad guys, and assorted scumbags. In a cast that consists almost entirely of Nazis, Rockwell's character is the one adult member who displays any trace of morality and intelligence, and ends up sacrificing his life for Jojo. Still, he's a Nazi and not a good person, by his own admission.
  • Rebel Wilson is usually typecast as outrageous Fat Comic Relief characters. Here, she plays Fräulein Rahm — still comic relief, yet also a fanatically devoted Nazi who brainwashes children into fascism and gleefully throws them into the meat grinder as Child Soldiers.
• Real-Life Relative: Roman Griffin Davis (Jojo)'s brothers have cameos as other members of the Hitler Youth.
• Separated-at-Birth Casting: If someone told you that Roman Griffin Davis was Scarlett Johansson's real son, you might be inclined to believe it◊.
• What Could Have Been:
  • The original version of Jojo banishing his imaginary Hitler was much more comedic, with Hitler being more passive-aggressive rather than openly hostile and awkwardly wiggling out the door rather than Jojo kicking him through the window.
  • Originally, Captain Klenzendorf was supposed to be killed by hanging instead of a firing squad. Waititi decided it was too similar to Jojo's mother's fate, so it was changed.
  • The first cut of the film was two hours and forty minutes long. Since this was deemed to be way too long for a comedy, it was trimmed down to just under an hour and fifty minutes.
• Word of Gay: In a Q&A, Waititi confirmed Captain Klenzendorf is gay.

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