Brit writer, director and actor Stephen Merchant has joined Taika Waititi’s starry WWII satire Jojo Rabbit as Gestapo agent ‘Captain Deertz’. Merchant, who played Caliban in X-Men spinoff Logan and who was co-writer of Brit sitcom The Office, posted his casting on Instagram:
Jojo Rabbit follows an awkward young German boy (Roman Griffin) raised by a single mother (Scarlett Johansson), and whose only ally is his imaginary best friend (Waititi), a version of Hitler. His naïve patriotism is tested when he meets a young girl (Thomasin McKenzie) who upends his world views, forcing him to face his biggest fears. Sam Rockwell plays the Nazi captain of the young boy’s Hitler Youth camp and Alfie Allen will play Finkel, second in command to Rockwell’s Captain Klenzendorf. Rebel Wilson is also among key cast in the Fox Searchlight film. Merchant’s part is understood to be a cameo.
Waititi, whose Thor: Ragnarok hammered out $854M worldwide, wrote the script and is producing with Carthew Neal and Chelsea Winstanley. Kevan Van Thompson is the executive producer. Waititi posted a first look at the film on his Instagram account earlier this month.
Merchant recently directed, wrote and acted in comedy feature Fighting With My Family, starring Dwayne Johnson, Lena Headey, Vince Vaughn and Florence Pugh. MGM is set to release in 2019. He will be on screen later this year in Sony’s The Girl In The Spider’s Web.
