Deadline reports that Rebel Wilson (Pitch Perfect franchise, The Hustle) has been cast in Taika Waititi’s WWII satire Jojo Rabbit. Wilson will be joining the previously announced Sam Rockwell and Scarlett Johansson on the project.
Jojo Rabbit is about a 10-year-old boy who struggles to find his place in an increasingly Fascist regime and turns to an imaginary friend when faced with the discovery that his mother is hiding a Jewish girl in their home.
Wilson is set to play Fraulein Rahm, a brutish instructor in the Hitler Youth Camp the young man has just been recruited to attend. Among the lessons she teaches the children is that Jews are the embodiment of mythical creatures.
Taika Waititi (Thor: Ragnarok) wrote and will direct the project and will star as the boy’s imaginary friend, Adolph Hitler, albeit distorted by the boy’s confusion from propaganda films. Johansson is playing Jojo’s mother, while Rockwell will play a Nazi captain who runs a Hitler Youth camp. In Jojo’s evolution, he progressively beings to see the young girl his mother is hiding in their home as human instead of the cruel propaganda being dished out at the youth camp.
In addition to writing, directing and starring in Jojo Rabbit, Waititi is producing the film with Carthew Neal and Chelsea Winstanley. Production on the film is set to begin this spring.
Rebel Wilson can next be seen in the comedy The Hustle which she also produces, as well as the romantic comedy Isn’t It Romantic alongside Liam Hemsworth, Priyanka Chopra, and Adam Devine. Wilson is set to executive produce the New Line film, which will be released next Valentine’s Day weekend.
(Photo Credit: Getty Images)
