Back in September, during our TIFF 2023 coverage, we were able to attend the world premiere of Next Goal Wins, directed by Taika Waititi. The movie is NOW available on digital platforms and will be hitting Blu-Ray on February 27th. We sit down with Oscar Kightley to discuss his role on the film and the experience of working with Taika.
Oscar is a Samoan-New Zealand actor and previous collaborator with director Taika Waititi (Hunt for the Wilderpeople) who plays Tavita, head of the American Samoa Football Federation. A hard working actor, writer, director, Kightley is well respected for his work on both Samoan projects as well as American made films.
Based on a true story, this heartfelt underdog comedy follows the American Samoa soccer team, infamous for their brutal 31-0 FIFA loss in 2001. With the World Cup qualifiers fast approaching, the team hires down-on-his- luck, maverick coach Thomas Rongen (Michael Fassbender), hoping he will turn the world’s worst soccer team into winners.
Read the full interview below:
THH: Did you have any big inspiration when working on Tavita?
OSCAR: Yeah, I mean, I watched the documentary so I could watch the real person and I watched the real Tavita and I was really impressed by him and his determination.Its great to see this and his love for American Samoa and the team, so, that was pretty much my inspiration.
THH: Are you a big fan of soccer?
OSCAR: I played when I was little so yes I do love football (soccer). I always watch when the World Cup is cause, you know, I love it. I’ve been following the English premier league lately.
THH: Yeah I’m from Brazil and, as you already might know, soccer for us is really a big deal.
OSCAR: Wow! Pelé is the greatest he’s one of my heroes, one my childhoods heroes growing up so yeah, Brazillian are really the greatest with soccer. You’re lucky to come from such a rich spicer heritage country. I actually do have a Brazillian soccer shirt from player Oscar, who played in Chelsea.
THH: So you’re character has lots of functions and jobs in the island and it’s just so funny to see. Do you have any specific favorite scene in the movie?
OSCAR: Hmm… My favorite scene, man (that’s a hard question.) That scene at the end was really beautiful, you know, the beach. Where we all pray to Jesus that was really fun to do it. Michael Fassbender is such an amazing actor to work with, he’s such a lovely person and I even had people who I knew from New Zealand that were acting in the movie and everyday was just a dream so when I watched that film I tried to kinda lose myself in the story and enjoy it and thinking about the fun we had. I’m glad that I’ll be there forever.
THH: So how was for you working with Taika Waititi? Was there any behind the scene moment that was really funny and/or remarkable for you?
OSCAR: Taika loves to try stuff, but that doesn’t mean you’re working hard because he’s trying stuff for a reason, he has a really cool way to approach it. Sometimes we took like 4 hours to make one scene in many different ways, trying to make it as perfect as possible. It’s fun but it’s a lot of hard work too but it was an awesome moment. You just always hope that the audience catches the scene and likes it and feel the chemistry between the characters.
THH: What message do you think that this movie brings? Resilience, culture, and diversity are all included but what’s your take on it?
OSCAR: There was everything that you just described and also a lot about hope. I love the moment when my character tells Fassbender that is okay to lose which was the flip moment and to me, it was about all those things, about hope, about not giving up, about life and that sports is not only about winning but there will always be a loser. I also feel like the movie was a lot about grief, and it was also so beautiful when they score a goal. Another thing that I loved to see was when Fassbender’s character hears the bell ring and prays and that was such an impactful moment considering everything this character went through and his journey in the movie.
THH: I remember that when I watched the movie, I took a while to realize that his daughter was dead and it was heartbreaking to me when that moment came.
OSCAR: It is truly heartbreaking, you know, the good things about voicemails is that they last forever. You can lose someone but you can still hear their voice and it’s a really deep take of grief.
THH: So, to wrap this up, Next Goal Wins is based on a true story, was it easy to capture the authenticity and emotions of the real-life events?
OSCAR: Yeah it was! Totally! It was because we can all relate to them and it’s American Samoa people and we felt for the team when that happened in real life. During the time we were like: “oh man, that sucks for those guys.” It’s not that you expect to be Australia, is just that you don’t expect to lose by that much, you know. It was so cool that we got to show this story to the world with this movie.
Next Goal Wins is NOW available on digital platforms and will be releasing on Blu-Ray and 4K Ultra HD on February 27.
