Taika Waititi: The real story behind 'that' Oscars gag, and much more...

Taika Waititi [Te-Whānau-a-Apanui] acted in movies Scarfies and Snakeskin, TV's The Strip (sometimes under the credit Taika Cohen), and appeared on stage as a stand-up comedian. Turning his creative energies towards directing, he made Oscar-nominated short Two Cars, One Night, and Māori Battalion tale Tama Tū. He has gone on to great success directing features.

In this ScreenTalk, Waititi talks about:

• The trials of working with kids on Two Cars, One Night
• The story behind the now infamous 'falling asleep' gag at the Oscars, and how he was left holding the baby
• How the amazing, lifelike set for short film Tama Tū was realised
• The crazy story behind creation of the script for Eagle vs Shark
• How he approached writing and directing on Flight of the Conchords
• Working on his feature film Boy
• His general thoughts on choosing a career as a filmmaker
• The layout of his hill-top castle-themed mansion

This video was first uploaded on 22 September 2009, and is available under this Creative Commons licence. This licence is limited to use of ScreenTalk interview footage only and does not apply to any video content and photographs from films, television, music videos, web series and commercials used in the interview.

Interview, Camera and Editing – James Coleman