The new Taika Waititi film featuring Jenna Ortega was unveiled at the Rome Film Festival 2026: it is an adaptation of Klara and the Sun, a novel by Nobel laureate in literature Kazuo Ishiguro. The story follows Klara, an android who, in a near-future world, is purchased by a teenage girl as a close companion, discovering the world and humanity. At the press conference, Waititi and Ortega spoke about the film and its themes. The film arrives in our cinemas from October 22, distributed by Eagle Pictures.
Klara and the Sun, the worst technology is the one that generates isolation, according to Taika Waititi and Jenna Ortega
Having encountered the novel Klara and the Sun in an airport, Taika Waititi fell in love at first sight and immediately checked whether the film rights were available: he had been especially fascinated by the perspective on the human being. It indeed seems natural to think of discussions about Artificial Intelligence, but Waititi does not consider Klara and the Sun to be centered on that topic, which no one during preparation had ever thought about: “It’s a film about the human condition, about someone who explains to people how to feel emotions and how to manage them“. Klara is a positive character also because, thanks to her childlike gaze, she loves without asking for anything in return: all of us would like to love like her, without the fear of being hurt. “I wanted a character who traverses the film a bit like Nights of Cabiria in The Nights of Cabiria,” explains Taika.
According to Jenna, today AI does nothing but amplify that tendency to “depersonalize” that has already begun with the explosion of social media: the anxiety of young people is growing precisely because of that amplification. Normal, according to Taika, that some aspects of AI take root so deeply: “Perhaps someone has had their heart broken so many times by a human being that they prefer to fall in love with something that doesn’t really exist.” But also… my goodness, how sad! It’s not technology in general the problem (“The fridge has been useful!”), but specifically the one that gradually creates ever more isolation, or that makes us end up like the humans in Wall-E. Waititi continues: “We have reached AI too quickly; it is time to slow down and set boundaries.”
For Jenna, her robot had to resemble a human being, not a classic idea of “cinematic robot“, because it was important to guarantee empathy with its emotions, the backbone of the narrative. The inspiration came more from the comedians who helped forge the slapstick tradition. It can help to have someone from the outside looking inside us: she doesn’t know what love is, and yet she can identify it when it blossoms in others. Far from Artificial Intelligence: Klara pushes people to rediscover true, concrete, human connections. At a certain point in the film, there is contemplation of using androids as a means to process grief: “I don’t think people today are unable to do it,” explains Jenna, “but we all feel a bit more pressure” due to media exposure and social networks. Technological progress reduces our ability to slow down and reflect on something, especially if one feels loneliness (“which is not the same as being physically alone,” Waititi notes), and we seek any connection, which unfortunately is not necessarily a real, true bond.
Jenna undoubtedly feels the responsibility to convey such a message through a character who, for once, is optimistic and different from the darker roles she is associated with (see Wednesday). However, she does not focus too much on being a behavioral model for her fandom, because some characters require a somber aura to convey a story’s message in the best way: “I can’t carry the weight of the world on my shoulders” (and then Wednesday would give an Artificial Friend a very bad fate, Ortega notes: better to avoid comparisons!).
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