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Michael Fassbender is lacing up his cleats for Taika Waititi‘s latest project.
The two-time Oscar nominee is in final talks to star in Next Goal Wins, a sports dramedy that will reteam the filmmaker with Fox Searchlight.
Based on a 2014 British documentary of the same name from Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, Next Goal Wins is an underdog story that follows the national football team of American Samoa and their coach, Thomas Rongen, as they try to transform from perennial losers into a FIFA World Cup-qualifying outfit.
Fassbender will play the coach, while casting calls have gone out for Fa’afafine actors to play the team members.
Waititi and Fox Searchlight are gearing up for the release of the Nazi Germany satire Jojo Rabbit, which recently bowed at the Toronto International Film Festival. He will be directing Next Goal Wins before embarking on Marvel’s fourth Thor film, Love & Thunder.
The Kiwi filmmaker co-wrote the screenplay with Iain Morris, with Jonathan Cavendish, Brett and Jamison set to produce. Also producing will be Garrett Basch and Andy Serkis, whose Imaginarium Productions originally optioned the rights to the doc.
Fassbender, who is repped by CAA, the U.K.’s Troika and Sloane Offer, was last in theaters reprising his X-Men role of Magneto in Dark Phoenix and is set for the comedic action-thriller Kung Fury 2.
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