Taika Waititi says ‘What We Do in the Shadows’ ran ‘way too long’

What we do in the shadows ends this month after six seasons on FX, and executive producer Taika Waititi can’t believe the vampire mockumentary made it this far.

New Zealand filmmaker who also co-wrote, co-directed and starred in 2014 WWDITS Movie that inspired the TV show – sat down with him recently Weekly entertainment to reflect on some of his most well-known projects. In his typical irreverent manner, he expressed his amazement at the small screen Shadow has lasted as long as it has.

“It took way too long, but I’m proud of it,” Waititi said. “I thought when we were making the film, I said to Jemaine (Clement), ‘This feels like this is a five-minute idea that we’re expanding into a film.’ Next we did six seasons with the same idea.”

Introduced in 2019, What we do in the shadows follows four vampire roommates and their human familiar – played by Kayvan Novak, Matt Berry, Natasia Demetriou, Mark Proksch and Harvey Guillén – as they navigate the modern world in crazy ways. (The 90-minute film had the same basic idea, but featured a different group of vampires.)

Waititi, who made cameo appearances in several episodes of What we do in the shadowscheekily said that his favorite aspect of the show was its relatively straightforward approach. “My favorite memory was not having to put in vampire fangs and force other people to do it,” he said. “That was probably my favorite thing to do. And besides, those guys were probably funnier than us.”

The Thor: Ragnarok And Jojo Rabbit The director also recalled that he had difficulty getting it Shadow The film was even given the green light. “This movie was rejected by every studio Jemaine and I pitched it to because we said, ‘It’s going to cost a million dollars,’ and every studio said, ‘We don’t even know how to make a movie for that price. ‘” Waititi recalled. “So they said, ‘Who’s in the movie? Who’s going to be in it?’ We said, “Well, we want Johnny,” and they said, “Ooh, Johnny, yeah, okay Johnny, do you mean Johnny (Depp)?” And we said, “No, our friend Johnny (Brugh) is a landscape architect. “

Waititi spoke about working on the Pirates sitcom Our flag means death as well as. “Wonderful show about pirates where I became a gay icon overnight,” he joked. “If you love pirates and hate straight people, this is the show for you. I had the time of my life. I played Blackbeard. Me and Rhys (Darby) had a lot of romantic times on that set (off camera too). Yes, it was an amazing two seasons of this show and I was just very, very proud of it.

However, despite his positive feelings towards the series, Waititi noted that he despised his character’s wardrobe. “I think my most memorable memory is that beard that drove me crazy,” he said. “The character is very grumpy and it wasn’t acting. I hated wearing that beard and that wig with passion. That was definitely someone else’s hair too. So this is the second time, or actually a few times, that I’ve worn other people’s hair on my head. Listen, this is our trade, isn’t it?

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Watch the video above to hear more from Waititi. The What we do in the shadows The series finale airs December 16th on FX.