The Big Picture

Fassbender has returned to the big screen after a long break with two new movies, including the hitman thriller The Killer and the sports comedy Next Goal Wins. Working with Taika Waititi on a comedy was a new and exciting experience for Fassbender, who has always wanted to do comedy. The film is a fun and heartwarming family movie. Kaimana’s performance in Next Goal Wins has received rave reviews, and the film features a lot of improvisation on set. Fassbender praises Kaimana’s natural talent and the honest and truthful moments they created together.

After a four-year hiatus from the big screen, Michael Fassbender is back with not one, but two movies that have been released this Fall. The first film was David Fincher’s hitman thriller The Killer where he played a devoted assassin with an affinity for The Smiths, who goes to war with his employers after a hit goes wrong. The second film is Taika Waititi’s sports comedy Next Goal Wins, where he plays a hot-headed Dutch-American soccer coach who is forced to coach the American Samoa international team, known as one of the weakest soccer teams in the world.

While working with Fincher seems like a natural fit for Fassbender, having worked with auteurs such as Ridley Scott, Danny Boyle, and Steve McQueen, his collaboration with Waititi finds him venturing into new territory: the world of comedy. The film finds Fassbender teaming up with non-binary actor Kaimana, in their first film role, and their character’s complicated relationship becomes the beating heart of Next Goal Wins.

With the SAG-AFTRA strike coming to an end, we were lucky enough to sit down and talk with Fassbender and Kaimana about seeing the movie for the first time and the joys of working with a filmmaker like Taika Waititi. We also ask Fassbender about the proper viewing order for a Barbenheimer-style double feature of The Killer and Next Goal Wins.

Next Goal Wins Release Date November 17, 2023 Director Taika Waititi Cast Michael Fassbender, Oscar Kightley, Kaimana, David Fane Rating PG-13 Runtime 97 minutes Main Genre Comedy Genres Comedy, Drama, Sports Writers Taika Waititi, Iain Morris
COLLIDER: I’m a big fan of the movie, and I feel like it’s coming out at the perfect time. It’s the holiday season and it’s a great family movie. Also, your other movie, The Killer, just came out, as well. The strike has also just ended, so I was curious, when was the first time you watched this movie, and what was your reaction to it?

KAIMANA: Well, I only watched it once. I screened it and I actually don’t think I watched the actual final edit just yet. But the version I watched, I’m fairly certain, is pretty much it. I loved it. I was laughing basically the entire time. Maybe aside from having to struggle a little bit watching myself and my own performance, I think overall the film turned out to be really great. It’s such a fun film, a fun family film. And there’s complexities in there that I would assume everybody could relate to in some way, shape, or form. So, it was great for me.

MICHAEL FASSBENDER: That’s actually interesting. I never thought about that because it’s the first time you did a movie, and it’s the first time watching yourself in a movie. It’s quite tricky, isn’t it?

KAIMANA: It is.

FASSBENDER: It’s kind of like hearing your voice on your voice message for the first time. You’re like, “Ooh…”

KAIMANA: I would say that cringe was pretty hard.

FASSBENDER: Yeah, that doesn’t change. Ever. [Laughs] Doesn’t get better. I watched it for the first time in Paris, which sounds very glamorous, actually. I was there at the time, and I had a little screening. It was the finished version, it’d just got locked I think. I really enjoyed it. I mean, it was such a fantastic experience working on it. The story is such a heartfelt, life-affirming human story, which really affected me when I watched the documentary, and certainly while we were shooting it. I just had such a great experience working with everyone on it. So yeah, very heartwarming to actually watch the finished product.

Michael Fassbender Has Wanted to do a Comedy For Years
Image via Searchlight Pictures

For you, Michael, I know you’ve done a lot of movies across all genres, but I feel like this is your first true comedy. What was it about this movie that made you want to take that leap?

FASSBENDER: I’ve been trying to do comedy for years. Nobody would hire me, and Taika took a roll of the dice. As a movie fan, I love watching comedies, especially when it’s real human stories. You can really strike home and really hit deep moments very profoundly when it’s within a comedy because when people are laughing their guard is down and they’re more available to go on a journey, I feel. So, you know, it was just the perfect opportunity. Taika is a master in this realm. The opportunity to work with him was so exciting for me, and then the material on top of it.

KAIMANA: He was so funny in the movie. Hands down.

FASSBENDER: Thank you.

So for you, Kaimana, everybody who I’ve talked to, and even after having seen the movie myself, everybody’s raving about your performance the most, but I was curious, since this is your first movie, how did you come across the casting for this? Did you always want to be a movie star?

KAIMANA: Oh, absolutely not. [Laughs] The casting call was just circulating within the Polynesian community online. Everyone was super excited about it, and so everyone was sharing it. A lot of family and friends were shooting the casting call over to me because they’re like, “Oh, this sounds like you! This sounds like you!” I was like, “Yeah, it does…except for the part that I don’t act. So.” [Laughs] But yeah, so I decided to just go for it, just for fun and to get everyone off my back, and I ended up getting it. So yeah, here I am!

Michael Fassbender and Kaimana on Doing Improv With Taika Waititi
Image via Searchlight Pictures

That’s awesome. So, I know Taika does a lot of improv; was there a lot of improvisation on set?

KAIMANA: 100%, if not 200%. For sure. Yeah, I think like the vast majority of the time we were improvising. I don’t think there was ever a scene where we weren’t improvising.

FASSBENDER: And you’re right to state that. You know, working with Kaimana was really very impressive, as a first-timer. Like I’ve said in many interviews now, it’s like there was just an honesty there and a simplicity and that’s not easy to do, you know, going in, improvising. As you said, it was like 90% we were just improvising, and to have that sort of free flow happening and to be relaxed and present and honest… [gestures to Kaimana] just an absolute natural. It was always quite disarming doing scenes together because it was just so truthful. It was really impressive, and it’s there in the film. You can see it.

KAIMANA: Thank you. 75 bucks.

FASSBENDER: I said $100.

I mean, this is a great first movie. It’s Taika Waititi, he’s an Academy Award winner. I know, Michael, you’ve also worked with so many talented directors. I was curious if there are any other directors that you have on your bucket list that you would love to work with next.

FASSBENDER: I mean, Coen Brothers, big fan, Scorsese, Christopher Nolan. But I feel like I’ve been so lucky already with the directors that I’ve worked with, and it’s all about the directors. Really, they’re, I think, the real artists. It’s their vision, and you can hopefully find a place to facilitate whatever they’re trying to put on the canvas. So, yeah, I just feel super lucky that I’ve got to work with the range of directors that I have.

Michael Fassbender on the Proper Viewing Order For a Double Feature of ‘The Killer’ and ‘Next Goal Wins’

I think this is the year of Barbenheimer, and I know Michael, you also have The Killer out right now, as well. There was all this debate about, “Oh, what movie are you gonna watch first?” So I was curious, for somebody who hasn’t seen either movie, do you have a viewing order for that?

FASSBENDER: I would do both of them together. Which one should you watch first? I would say if it’s – what day is it today?

KAIMANA: Tuesday.

FASSBENDER: On a Tuesday, I would start with The Killer and then go Next Goal Wins. On a Wednesday, I would start with Next Goal Wins and then The Killer.

KAIMANA: Depends on the day.

FASSBENDER: Depends on the day. But I still haven’t seen Barbie or Oppenheimer.

KAIMANA: Excuse you?

FASSBENDER: Because I was in countries that didn’t have English screenings, so I missed it. I want to see both of them on the big screen, so I have to do that.

KAIMANA: I only saw Barbie, so I can’t say I did both.

Going back to Next Goal Wins with soccer, how much experience have you had with the sport? Did you train before?

KAIMANA: Well, honestly just as a kid growing up, like during recess. I’d go and play “soccer” in the field with the other kids or after school. That was about the extent of my soccer experience. Right before filming, though, we spent a week training soccer.

FASSBENDER: Which didn’t help at all.

KAIMANA: It did not help. [Laughs] Not at all. But, yeah, it was a whole week long. From morning until sundown, we were out on that field. Well, me and three of the boys. I feel like more of them should have been out there, honestly, training with us, but that’s just me.

FASSBENDER: I’m terrible at soccer.

KAIMANA: I was like, “Where’s Michael?” [Laughs]

FASSBENDER: Average at best.

Next Goal Wins is now playing in theaters, you can click the link below to purchase tickets on Fandango.

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