Taika Waititi- From Boy to Thor

Taika Waititi- From Boy to Thor

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Season 1; Episode 17- Taika Waititi- From Boy to Thor

In this episode, we will hear an honest update from life in Wellington, NZ before exploring Taika Waititi’s journey from a messy, underfunded beginning to global success through long-term collaboration.

Welcome to Beyond the Template.

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Last week, we talked about Richard Taylor, the builder of the “just right” conditions needed for creatives to thrive in New Zealand.  Taylor was an architect of structures and systems built from collaboration in its foundations. He reminded us that creativity survives not through lone genius, but through environments that allow imagination to stay intact as it scales and expands.

When we think about this sort of lineage, the next step from those who build, like Richard Taylor, would be someone who reclaims these same worlds for themselves… the newer generation of genius.  Generation X.  And who to better show us how worlds are reclaimed from those who built it like Taylor?  Why, Taika Waititi, of course!

Some creatives don’t arrive polished, disciplined, or properly trained. Some arrive sideways, upside down and perpendicular. Those who are innately funny, defiant while remaining emotionally perceptive. And even better, those who carry stories that don’t fit the dominant tone of an industry, and therefore refuse to mold them into something that makes others comfortable.  That’s all Taika.

But before we tell his story, I want to share more of my own, and tell you all exactly where I am right now…because this week, I am seeing myself and my own creative life more and more in these Expander of the Week stories.  They aren’t necessarily inseparable, but I am feeling reflective.  And yes, I am using that specific word to carry multiple meanings.

I’m now in Wellington, New Zealand.

On Thursday, I was up before dawn, packing quietly (okay frenzied) and walking Coco one final time through the Blockhouse Bay area of Auckland. The four weeks we had together went by both slowly and too quickly, just as I had thought and mused over in our last episode. This time frame was just enough for routines to form and for trust to settle into both of our bodies together.

I patted his head and said goodbye and it hurt me to see his bright eyes trying to understand what was happening.  Later that evening, when his owners arrived, they messaged me something that caught me off guard: instead of being excited, Coco seemed confused. He wasn’t quite sure why they were there. He was looking for me.

In just four weeks, we had bonded enough that he was already missing me.

I love animals. I always have. And moments like that remind me how deeply I attach, how fully I show up, even when I know the connection is temporary.  I do the exact same thing when I travel and meet new people.  I do the exact same thing when I invest my time, energy and heart into a project that I believe in.  I pour myself into the things that are worthy of it.  I am an Aquarius after all… the water bearer.  Pouring when it is needed, necessary and crucial.  Fun fact, did you know that Aquarians are the smallest zodiacal sign represented in the population of the United States?  We make up only 6.2%.  I always felt weird, but knowing I am actually rare, is a strange confirmation. 

Right now, I’m sitting in a beautiful, elegant 1910 home in Wellington. Rain is falling outside. Beside me on the couch is Kiki the tiny poodle doodle, my current sit, fast asleep. The house is quiet in that particular way that feels both grounding and slightly unreal.

Because of the rain, I tried to make the most of yesterday’s sunlight. And because of that, I’m a day late getting this episode out into the world.

But I’m back at it. Concentrating as best as I can, when all I want to do is enjoy these precious moments of the NEW… Feeling more focused than ever on the NOW.  Ready to move forward with you all.

This week I started my first class with AFTRS!  The Australian Film, Television, and Radio School.  This is a renowned university level institution. I had my first two online sessions for Intro to Production and Film Business, and for the first time in a long time, I can say this clearly: I have no regrets.

Everything I’m learning is giving me a new perspective on what I want my business to be, why I created this podcast, and how I can start narrowing my focus instead of endlessly reshaping myself to fit something practical.

Because the truth is (and for those who have followed this from the beginning, so no surprise to you because this matters) while for the entirety of last year I tried my best to pull passion from learning and development, the fact is that my passion has always lived elsewhere.

It lives in creative pursuits, in the arts, and in film.  It always has.  I just let life smother that passion out of me and allowed myself to get into work because it was available, I was naturally good at it, and it paid the damn bills.

One of the unexpected gifts of being in my 40s is realizing something both sobering and freeing: I am still the same person I was at 14.

The world has a way of hushing your hopes. Shushing your dreams. Pressing practicality so firmly onto you that it cuts you up like a cookie cutter would dough… those pieces that were a part of you severed as if they weren’t made from the same stuff, weren’t equally as yummy and yet deemed “the scraps”.  So eventually you forget what you wanted before you were told what was acceptable.

But then! Somewhere during the years of 40-42, something wonderful happens.  People have called this a midlife crises (because hey let’s judge and make this transition something to look down upon along with all the other ways society decides what’s okay).  But here’s another fun fact… these years in a person’s life involve the Neptune Return… where Neptune graces the same position it was… when you were born.  Isn’t that wild?  That’s one of my all time favorite astrological facts… and to me, shows that there is a celestial plan, we are moving through some beautiful connections to the universe in our lives, and spirituality is queen.  These years can be a wonderful returning.  And quite often reflect deep and true desires of the individual.  For some it means, “I never wanted to get married I was just supposed to because that’s what everyone does. And also, I love shiny fast cars and always wanted one but they have terrible gas mileage and aren’t exactly safe.” Or, “I never wanted children, but my spouse did so I became a parent because I thought I had to compromise and sacrifice.  I am going travel the world with a partner now.”  For me it meant, “I never wanted this life and this career, I just thought I wasn’t allowed to be part of a creative life because I wasn’t talented enough.”

For so many, during these years you get to remember yourself.

My business coach told me that a business should be treated the same way as a romantic relationship.  You have to get up everyday and CHOOSE it, out of love and out of passion. I don’t love education, learning design, or training… at least not in the way I tried to convince myself I did. I was molding myself into something practical and something that helped me survive as an independent adult.

In my life experiences, I was taught, directly and indirectly, that the arts either aren’t a real career, or I wasn’t good enough to be a part of it. I heard the message that creative industries are reserved for the exceptionally gifted. Those who are innately special. So, unless you are one of the great artists, or someone born into money, support, and the highest self-esteem, you don’t get to belong.  My brain decided that I was only allowed to fantasize about this life.  My brain started to create an imaginary version of me, thriving in the arts and in spaces with creatives… and my “real life”.  But my mind-shift in the past year and a half has pointed to a new way entirely.  Instead of “You are living in a fantasy and should be ashamed of yourself. So just make do and be grateful.” I am now thinking “Why the hell NOT me?  I am awesome.  And every time I want something I tend to make it happen. Every single time.”

Looking back now, I can see the pattern clearly.

At 11 when I was one of the only 6^th graders to get into my middle school art and dance programs.

At 13 when I was the only 8^th grader to be accepted into the Dock Street Theatre High School Program.

At 18 when I was accepted in the Spoleto Festivals highly competitive apprenticeship program.

At 23 when I decided to wait trying to get a “real job” and instead did the Disney College Program… after I graduated.

At 25 when I was brought in as media to take photos and blog about the Spoleto Fringe.

At 32 when I got my masters degree but was more excited about returning to Disney as a professional intern.

And now, as I’m about to turn 43 in a couple of weeks, am living abroad in the spaces of creatives I have admired for years, and taking classes on areas which I thought were always just out of reach but now feel completely possible.  Why not me?

I have always wanted to be near artists. Inside creative ecosystems. Supporting, translating, stabilizing, protecting the work, even if I wasn’t the one on the stage or behind the camera.

So I have come up with language for this.  I spoke it aloud in my class Thursday evening.  Speaking things into existence is so important.  Putting words to your dreams makes change.

I am not an artist.  I am artist adjacent.

This doesn’t make me less than, or a failure, or not good enough, or fake. I don’t have to separate myself into two halves.  I don’t have to pretend. 

Thank god right?  I can just be HONEST.

Being honest and true now brings me, very intentionally… to Taika Waititi.

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Taika Waititi was born in 1975 in Wellington, New Zealand, and spent much of his childhood moving between Wellington and the Bay of Plenty. His upbringing was not glamorous, stable, or particularly supportive of artistic ambition in the way we like to retroactively imagine successful creatives.

He is of Māori descent through his father (from Te Whānau-ā-Apanui) and Jewish heritage through his mother, whose family fled Europe. This dual identity mattered deeply to Waititi, not just culturally, but psychologically. He has spoken openly about growing up feeling split between worlds, never fully belonging to one, and learning early how humor could function as both bridge and armor.

Waititi’s family life was complicated. His parents separated when he was young. His relationship with his father was strained and at times painful. Money was tight. Structure was inconsistent. Stability was not daily guaranteed.  Waititi has joked in interviews with his long-time collaborator, Jemaine Clement, that being from a single parent home was more of the norm where they each grew up, and that their friend groups (which they both called gangs) would make fun of those few children who’s dads remained around.  It just shows how often it is easier to push towards the offense during the moments where everything feels more like defense when you come from an emotionally sensitive area in your life. And how feeling like you are part of something bigger than yourself often serves as the life raft on unbalanced waves. 

This matters, because Taika Waititi didn’t grow up with the assumption that creative success was inevitable, encouraged, or financially safe. He managed his circumstances as best as he could. Art was certainly not framed as a career path. It was something you sought out because you couldn’t imagine doing anything else, but also because you had so much to say and express in ways you may have not been given obvious outlets for.  For Waititi, art helped him make sense of himself.

At Wellington College, he gravitated toward performance and visual art, in his search for self versus seeing a practical and lucrative future in them. He later studied fine arts at Victoria University of Wellington, and focused on painting. Not filmmaking or screenwriting.  Painting.

Many of Waititi’s fans don’t know this detail about him.  But that detail is important.

Waititi did not enter the creative industry with a clear roadmap. He didn’t train in the technical pipeline. He wasn’t groomed by a mentor.  He had to explore and experiment.  And he also partnered and collaborated with people who offered a balanced perspective and skillset to his own.

During university, he co-founded a comedy troupe called So You’re a Man, alongside Jemaine Clement. They shared a sense of understanding between one another, coming from similar backgrounds, and each carried with them a desire to play.  Neither considered themselves up for industry recognition.  They just had fun.  The live local shows were quite scrappy and low-budget.  But they felt alive when on stage with one another and with the audience.  Their goal wasn’t fame.  It was connection.

From that group emerged Flight of the Conchords, which Clement would later co-create and star in. Taika Waititi remained deeply involved in that orbit, and even went with Clement (and Bret Mackenzie, the other half of the Flight of the Conchords duo) to the Edinburgh Fringe Festival, making a fake mocumentary of the group as part of the trip, where Waititi played their manager.  He would eventually support the HBO two season hit show by directing episodes, shaping tone, and helping translate a very specific, awkward, New Zealand humor for the broader audiences of the United States.

This partnership between Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement matters… because they are still working on projects together now.  Their relationship has spanned three decades at this point.  And shows that finding that creative balance with another or with a group can make all the difference. Last year Clement spoke at Waititi’s 50^th birthday celebration in Los Angeles.  He was one of the only ones chosen for this honor. Jemaine Clement is not a side character in Waititi’s story. He was and still is part of Waititi’s foundation for self and career expansion.  Clement has been on this journey with him for more years in Waititi’s life, than not.

And Taika’s early short films reveal how long this road actually was.

In 2003, he released Two Cars, One Night, a short film about two boys waiting in a car outside a pub while their parents drink inside. Nothing happens in the traditional sense in this film.  It simply captures a moment and reflects on a culture in a quiet way.  There is no spectacle or emotional peak.  Instead, the viewer is given insight into the boredom, curiosity, and tender early ache of connection with another who really understands and sees them.

It was nominated for an Academy Award.

But this nomination didn’t turn Taika Waititi into a household name or suddenly open doors for him. It certainly didn’t remove the financial instability most experience as a creative searching for their voice. But once nominated, Waititi knew that his instincts for narrative weren’t wrong. 

Years passed and in 2007, he released his first feature film, Eagle vs Shark.  This was a locally made low-budget, awkward romantic comedy produced with the support of New Zealand funding bodies and collaborators. It starred Loren Horsley, Waititi’s partner at the time, and Jemaine Clement, who stated in an interview that Waititi had to convince him to take the role, as Clement saw himself more a writer than actor at the time. Reactions to the film were split. While some critics loved its sincerity others found it uncomfortable and strange.

Once again, Waititi was not made rich or guaranteed a next project. And he wasn’t given a ticket to Hollywood. But, Waititi then knew he could refine his voice further.

This voice was emotionally vulnerable, humor-forward, and deeply human.  Waititi was finally able to express it fully in 2010 with Boy, a film very close to his hear, set in rural New Zealand and inspired by Waititi’s own childhood. Boy tells the story of a young Māori boy idolizing to the point of fantasy an absent and unreliable father.

Waititi played the father himself.

The film became the highest-grossing New Zealand film at the time because it told the truth of things for so many children plainly and without sentimentality. It simply showed things as they were without making excuses or romanticizing the experiences and circumstances.

Then, in 2014, came What We Do in the Shadows and collaboration again came into play at the forefront for Waititi.

What We Do in the Shadows was co-written, co-directed, and co-starred by Taika Waititi and Jemaine Clement. It was not Waititi’s solo vision. It emerged from a yea short film aligned with the feature and years of shared comedic language, mutual trust, and creative shorthand.

The mockumentary (which when touring each claimed to be a legitimate documentary as part of their marketing approach) followed centuries-old vampires navigating modern flatting (or roommate apartment) life in Wellington.  It worked because it balanced absurdity with emotional honesty and relatability. Each brought their own actual flat mate experiences to the film.  Clement brought his childhood fascination with vampires.  Both brought their individual sparks to the collaborative process.

Equally important, Taika’s then-wife, Chelsea Winstanley, served as a producer on the film. Winstanley is an accomplished producer in her own right, deeply committed to Māori storytelling and indigenous representation in film. Her work has consistently focused on elevating voices that mainstream systems overlook. Her presence shaped what projects were possible, how they were funded, and how they were protected. So Chelsea brought advocacy, logistics, infrastructure, and ideation to What We Do in the Shadows.  She, was artist adjacent.

What We Do in the Shadows was made on a small budget, using local resources, New Zealand locations, and a tight-knit team. It premiered at Sundance. It became an instant cult hit. Five years later it would also eventually spawn a television series for the United State audiences, created by Clement and directed by Clement and Taika along with a team of brilliant directors.

So many say Waititi “made it” overnight.

The reality is that What We Do in the Shadows sits on top of more years upon years of creative labor, emotional risk, and sustained collaboration.

Even when Taika moved into Hollywood to direct Thor: Ragnarok in 2017, he didn’t abandon his people or his tone. He brought his sensibility into a massive system, not the other way around.

Also again, he didn’t do it alone but instead flourished within teams where he listened, adapted an learned the machinery within the Hollywood blockbuster beast.

Taika’s intelligence is often mistaken for charm. But he is extremely strategic. He understands systems and the psychology of an audience. He understands that humor disarms power structures long enough for truth to slip through.  This can be felt in the Hunt for the Wilderpeople and with Jo Jo Rabbit.

Taika Waititi understands something many creatives resist:  You cannot upscale by isolating.  You must partner.  You must share the burden.  To become more you have to extend past yourself.

Taika didn’t rise by proving he could do everything alone, even though he is quite the visionary and creative innovator. He rose by staying connected to his heritage, to stories that mattered to him, and to the people he met along the way.

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I hope you enjoyed this episode! Please make sure to spread the word for anyone you think would have fun with us.  Before I leave you this week, let’s reflect.

This question is something I might ask when someone comes to me feeling scattered, misaligned, or quietly exhausted from trying to justify themselves:

Where in your life or work are you throwing logic over passion… where have you been trying to become “legitimate” versus embracing your truth…and do you have someone in your life to help you remember that there isn’t a problem with your truth in the first place?

Clarity doesn’t come from fixing yourself. Instead, it comes from telling the truth about who you’ve always been and designing your next steps to help you continue to move towards it.

You can add anything you would like to share in the comments section or email me directly.  I welcome your thoughts.  And I would love to address them (with anonymity) in future episodes. 

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Thank you for joining me today for Beyond the Template.  Keep it up, keep it creative.

I created my business because more and more non-linear thinking creatives and innovators are expanding in the world and I hope to serve as the partner and collaborator for them.  I understand the struggles, the guilt, and the overwhelm that comes from dreaming big, but needing someone by your side to ground that dream into real actionable and strategic steps.  I am not a consultant or a coach.  I don’t just give advice, I stay by your side to the end with empathy, understanding and grounding presence.

If this sounds like an exciting possibility, or let’s be honest a weight off your shoulders, please reach out to me for a FREE chat about your project, your goals, and your dreams.

Contact your host: camelieleboeuf@gmail.com

About your host: cameliedesigns.com

Join the YouTube community: https://www.youtube.com/@camelieleboeuf

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