Taika Waititi: Diversity feels like it's 'going backwards' in NZ

Taika Waititi has spoken out about diversity in New Zealand film saying it's still an issue that "needs to be addressed" and that he sometimes feels like we're "going backwards".

The superstar Kiwi director broached the subject during an interview with American news outlet APTN at the Directors Guild of America Awards at the weekend.

The reporter noted that "diversity doesn't seem to be such an issue" in New Zealand, as opposed to in America, but Waititi was quick to correct him.

He said: "It's getting a little better... [but] I think it's still an issue. I think it is something that needs to be addressed.

Taika Waititi. Photo / Getty Images

"Sometimes we feel like we're making steps forward and then other times we feel like we're going backwards a bit. And I don't think any country really is exempt from that. New Zealand has got its own issues as well."

He said diversity probably seems like less of an issue here simply because we have fewer people and so its "a little easier" for people to get things across the line, but he maintains, "it's not easier (in NZ)".

This is not the first time Waititi has spoken out about diversity in New Zealand.

He made headlines in 2018 when he declared New Zealand to be "racist as f***" in an interview for Dazed and Confused.

He went on to say: "I think New Zealand is the best place on the planet, but it's a racist place. People just flat-out refuse to pronounce Maori names properly. There's still profiling when it comes to Polynesians. It's not even a colour thing – like, 'Oh, there's a black person.' It's, 'if you're Poly then you're getting profiled'."

He also said Aucklanders were "very patronising" saying, "They're like, 'Oh, you've done so well, haven't you? For how you grew up. For one of your people'."

Waititi also fronted a campaign for New Zealand Human Rights in which he made a tongue-in-cheek video against racism.