Taika Waititi Was As Surprised He Won A Grammy (For ‘Jojo Rabbit’) As Everyone Else

Taika Waititi is a Grammy winner now! That was a bit unexpected! The filmmaker and actor is not a musician, though he has done some music-adjacent work, such as his involvement with The Flight of the Conchords. But on Sunday, during the run of pre-show awards, he accepted the trophy for Best Compilation Soundtrack for Visual Media, for his 2019 Holocaust comedy-drama Jojo Rabbit. And he was as surprised to get one as everyone else.

Waititi gave his acceptance speech very remotely — from a trailer on the set of Thor: Love and Thunder, which started filming in Sydney, Australia earlier this year. It began with some technical glitches, but once everything was cleared up he was quick to go into charming jokey mode.

“I guess they’re just giving Grammys to anyone now! I’ll take it, thank you,” Waititi said. He then tried to talk about Jojo Rabbit, which earned him an Oscar for Best Original Screenplay over a year ago, in a much different time. “What can I say? It was so long ago, I can barely remember anything about making that movie — but it seems like it’s never going to go away, and I’m happy about that.” Then he said he was “going back to work now.”

Waititi was also taken aback online.

But he was also very grateful.

The win may be a shock, but it does mean something big: Waititi is one half of the way towards EGOT power. So put him on TV and on Broadway and let’s get this done.