There’s an interesting detail hidden inside the IMDb page for Taika Waititi’s “Next Goal Wins” — it lists the film as being set to world premiere at this coming October’s BFI London Film Festival.
Principal photography on “Next Goal Wins” began in November 2019 and wrapped in January 2020, it has been in a state of limbo ever since. It didn’t help that one of the film’s stars, Armie Hammer, got the industry boot after numerous sexually assault allegations surfaced against him.
Jimmy Porter explains it quite well:
“In a way, the fates of Searchlight’s "Death on the Nile" and "Next Goal Wins" are very similar. "Death on the Nile" can't reshoot because Hammer's role is the lead character in the story and the production would need the entirety of the cast to return for extensive reshoots.”
"Next Goal Wins" supposedly doesn't have those production worries but it has a potentially bigger optics dilemma with Fassbender and Hammer. The latter is a pariah, but the former has had legal problems with domestic abuse dating back a decade. If "Next Goal Wins" nixes Hammer, it will open itself up to accusations of hypocrisy.”
“I believe that Disney (for all its messaging about toxic masculinity) DESPERATELY wants this problem to magically go away. Disney are going to delay and delay and delay in the hope that Hammer's issues will be forgotten (unlikely) or that he can win legal proceedings. In the latter case, Disney at least have cover for moving forward with those releases.”
“Next Goal Wins” Is led by Fassbender, playing a soccer coach who gains control of the American Samoa national team and attempts to get them qualified for the 2014 FIFA World Cup.
Jeremy Saulnier’s mysterious A24 project, formerly “October,” still has no release date. You’d think, given that it has been in post-production for almost a year now.