Taika Waititi is best known for directing Thor: Ragnarok and Jojo Rabbit, but he’s also active in humanitarian causes, including the 2012 NBC Super Bowl featurette “Brotherhood of Man,” which led to him directing failed former president Donald Trump.
According to Waititi, working with Trump was a major pain in the ass and also gave him some interesting insights into the Donald, who had not yet decided to run for president.
Speaking with actors Will Arnett, Jason Bateman, and Sean Hayes on their Smartless podcast, Waititi recalled that Trump was not exactly a delight to direct, according to The Daily Beast.
“I directed Trumpy,” Waititi giggled. “There was a piece of paper with a list of demands,” Waititi said, when Bateman asked if Trump had any on-set “specifications.”
Trump had a helper present who flattered him constantly, Waititi explained. “He had a sort of like a make-up person who was also his ego booster. So she would like, touch him up and say ‘Oh Mr. Trump, oh Mr. Trump, you look fantastic.’”
“[The camera] had to be a certain height to make him look a little thinner,” Waititi added. “I think it had like a sort of, whatever the pantone of orange was that he had to appear as on screen.”
Trump is known to be fond of whatever shade of bronzer he has applied to his face, and the uneven application of it has led to lots of public humiliation.
Vox noted in 2020 regarding the Trump skin tone:
In part, this is because the conversation about the president’s looks — particularly his trademark hue — is more than skin-deep. It has given his opponents an easy way to ridicule him (comparing his skin to Cheetos, or hoisting large orange balloons in his likeness) that does not touch upon the substance of his presidency or policies, and is in a way reminiscent of the president’s own nicknames for his enemies like “Mini Mike” (a reference to former New York City Mayor Mike Bloomberg’s height) or “Sleepyeyes Chuck Todd” (Trump’s derogatory name for the Meet the Press host).
Trump has suggested he doesn’t use makeup, but now we know that’s just another of his endless lies.
