We are in the thick of the Oscar season, with contenders reaching theatres on a weekly basis. Will JOJO RABBIT be one of them? And which Oscars® might it win?
Fox Searchlight certainly plans to push Taika Waititi’s clever WWII satire, JOJO RABBIT, in all of the major awards categories. We wrote recently about the impressive Scarlett Johansson in the pivotal role of Jojo’s mother, Rosie. But now that the movie is playing for larger audiences, we’re beginning to think that it has the potential to contend in more categories than Best Supporting Actress.
Johansson herself may put her weight behind her performance in Noah Baumbach’s MARRIAGE STORY instead of campaigning for Taika Waititi’s JOJO RABBIT. But the movie is performing well with critics, and now it needs some box office success to keep it in contention in the coming weeks.
A screenplay nomination seems likely. Waititi adapted Christine Leunens' novel “Caging Skies,” in which a young boy who adores the Nazi party discovers his parents are hiding a Jewish girl in their attic. Waititi takes that angle and adds the surreal aspect of an imaginary friend for his lead character, Jojo (Roman Griffin Davis). That imaginary friend happens to be Hitler.
Roman Griffin Davis is generating some buzz for his performance as Jojo, but the Best Actor field is packed to the gills this year. Taika Waititi could be a dark horse candidate for the Best Director field if enough people support his bold and provocative efforts. Again, the Director field is filling up with legends, and Quentin Tarantino and Martin Scorsese might compete against each other, and maybe even the likes of James Mangold, Greta Gerwig and Bong Joon-Ho.
There’s a lot of season left to play out, with big Oscar movies reaching theatres in November and December. Will JOJO RABBIT hold on to this early momentum? The movie is in select theatres as we speak, so go check it out!
