Taika Waititi said his next feature Klara And The Sun will be debuting this year, with the potential for a festival launch.
Speaking to Screen at the Sundance world premiere for Jeffrey Walker’s Fing, Waititi said Klara And The Sun is “coming soon, this year for sure.”
“We’ve just been talking with Sony about when and where, we’re thinking about festivals and stuff like that,” said the director, who confirmed that the film is picture locked.
Klara And The Sun is an adaptation by Dahvi Waller of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, about a robot girl designed to prevent loneliness who tries to save a heartbroken family of humans.
The film shot in New Zealand in early 2024, with Jenna Ortega in the lead role, alongside Amy Adams, Steve Buscemi, Mia Tharia, Natasha Lyonne and Simon Baker.
It is produced by Garrett Basch with Elizabeth Gabler for Sony label 3000 Pictures, David Heyman for the UK’s Heyday Films, and Waititi. Sony Pictures Releasing will distribute the film in the US.
Screen has approached Sony for comment on the release schedule.
Fing
Sundance selection Fing is another title with UK-Australasian heritage. The latest adaptation of a children’s book by UK comedian and writer David Walliams, it is the first to be filmed in Australia, and intended for cinema release, with AGC Studios handling sales.
The film follows two librarians who indulge their demanding daughter’s every wish. When she wants a mysterious Fing, they set off on a quest for the rare creature. Jo Sargent produces for the UK’s King Bert Productions with Todd Fellman for Australia’s Story Bridge Films.
“We were developing it with Sky in the UK; they suggested we speak to Todd’s company because they had such a good experience on The Portable Door [a 2023 fantasy adventure also directed by Walker],” said Sargent.
“We had a great team who had worked in this level of world-building, and also in creating a UK set locale, but doing it all in Australia,” said Spellman. “It rolled into a similar financing plan and a lot of the same crew; it was great to have the benefit of a shorthand.”
The film began shooting last year at Screen Queensland Studios in Brisbane, backed by Screen Queensland’s Production Attraction Incentive. “One thing we got from Queensland was amazing locations that we would never get in the UK, so that was one of the reasons we went there,” said Sargent. “There were financial benefits as well, but in the end it’s about being creatively aligned.”
“There are some very attractive benefits, from a producer offset, to the state incentives; also just on the ground a lot of support with equity from different facilities, and a lot of goodwill,” added Spellman.
Fing stars UK actress Iona Bell with Mia Wasikowska and Blake Harrison as her parents, Penelope Wilton as the nanny, Walliams as headmaster and Waititi as the Viscount, an evil animal park owner determined to own the rare creature. It was the first time Harrison had filmed in the country since shooting The Inbetweeners 2 from 2013 to 2014.
Walliams was not present at the film’s Sundance premiere. Having sold an estimated 60m books, the actor was dropped by his longtime publisher HarperCollins UK late last year, which UK newspaper The Telegraph said happened following its investigation into alleged inappropriate behaviour and harassment towards junior female staff from Walliams.
Walliams has denied the allegations. Walker, Sargent and Fing co-writer Kevin Cecil declined to comment when asked about Walliams’ conduct.
Sundance runs until Sunday, February 1.
No comments yet