Life is Good for Taika Waititi and Rita Ora

They fell in love in Sydney, so it’s fitting to shoot New Zealander Taika Waititi, 47, and British popstar Rita Ora, 32, for their first cover together against the backdrop of the glittering harbour. Ahead of Ora’s first album in five years, entertainment’s new power couple open up to Vogue Australia about their life together as best friends and now, creative collaborators, Jessica Montague writes for the magazine.

The clip for the second single released on You and I, “Praising You” proved Ora and Waititi, who won an Academy Award for the screenplay of his film Jojo Rabbit in 2020 and directed the viral Belvedere campaign starring an all-dancing Daniel Craig, are a creative force in the making, Montague writes. Shot on film, it pays homage to Cook’s original Spike Jonze-directed video, but also references Fame and the opening sequence of Bob Fosse’s All That Jazz. It culminates in a massive Studio 54-esque dance extravaganza with Ora as its unlikely star.

Waititi said: “Man, we’re like specimens when it comes to collaborating, just so good. There were no problems, it was almost like we knew what each other was going to say. It was easy.”

Original article by Jessica Montague, Vogue Australia, May 31, 2023.

Photo by Robbie Fimmano.