Taika Waititi plays imaginary Adolf Hitler for laughs in Jojo Rabbit trailer

It has already been a bit of a banner year for beloved writer/director/Thor: Ragnarok's Korg actor Taika Waititi, with the TV adaptation of his popular cult film, What We Do in the Shadows, and his roles in Avengers: End Game and the forthcoming Disney+ series, The Mandalorian. Now, we are getting our first good look at Jojo Rabbit, Waititi's forthcoming dark comedy/drama based on the novel, Caging Skies, by Christine Leunens.

Per the film's official synopsis, Jojo Rabbit is "a World War II satire that follows a lonely German boy (Roman Griffin Davis as JoJo) whose world view is turned upside-down when he discovers his single mother (Scarlett Johansson) is hiding a young Jewish girl (Thomasin McKenzie) in their attic. Aided only by his idiotic imaginary friend, Adolf Hitler (Taika Waititi), Jojo must confront his blind nationalism." The cast also includes Sam Rockwell as a Nazi captain at a Hitler Youth camp, Alfie Allen as his second-in-command, Rebel Wilson as a brutish camp instructor, and Stephen Merchant as a Gestapo agent.

The first official teaser dropped in July, opening with some good old-fashioned slapstick at this Hitler Youth camp to give us a taste of the overall tone of the film. Jojo is tormented by the other kids at camp for being a bit of a wuss—hence his nickname, "Rabbit." His imaginary BFF, Adolf, assures him people used to say nasty things about him all the time, too: "Oh, he's a lunatic. Oh, look at that psycho, he's going to get us all killed!" (Waititi has said that Adolf is essentially a substitute for the boy's absent father.)