Michael Fassbender to Star in Taika Waititi’s ‘Next Goal Wins’

By Justin Kroll

LOS ANGELES (Variety.com) – Michael Fassbender is in final negotiations to star in the Fox Searchlight dramedy “Next Goal Wins,” which Taika Waititi will direct.

Variety first reported last month that Waititi, who also penned the script with Iain Morris, was going to shoot this film before jumping into the next “Thor” pic for Marvel.

The movie is based on the 2015 doc “Next Goal Wins,” which follows the true story of Dutch coach Thomas Rongen, who attempts the nearly impossible task of turning the American Samoa soccer team from perennial losers into winners.

Fox Searchlight will distribute.

Waititi recently signed back on for “Thor: Love and Thunder,” which forced him to postpone his “Akira” movie at Warner Bros. as the size of the anime adaptation would not give him enough time to focus on “Thor,” which Marvel wants him to shoot at the top of 2020.

Garrett Basch is producing the Fox Searchlight film, as are Jonathan Cavendish and Andy Serkis through their Imaginarium banner. Mike Brett and Steve Jamison, who directed the doc, will also produce.

Fassbender, who is repped by CAA, Troika and Sloane Offer, was last seen reprising his role of Magneto in the X-Men movie “Dark Phoenix” and is set for comedic action thriller “Kung Fury 2.”