Taika Waititi makes movie debut as Adolf Hitler in first JoJo Rabbit trailer

The first trailer for Taika Waititi's latest "anti-hate satire" project, JoJo Rabbit has released featuring the Kiwi star as a totally bonkers version of Adolf Hitler.

The trailer is short and sweet, coming in at just under a minute, but that's about all you need to get a taste of what's on offer here.

The film, set during World War II, follows a young boy named JoJo (Roman Griffin Davis) who dreams up an imaginary friend after being bullied - and that friend just so happens to be Hitler.

Hitler offers him words him of comfort like: "Let them say whatever they want - people used to say a lot of nasty things about me; 'Oh, this guy's a lunatic. Look at that psycho, he's going to get us all killed.'"

But when JoJo discovers his mother his hiding a young Jewish girl in their attic, he has to confront everything he believes in.

The trailer doesn't give away too much more about the story, but it does give us our first glimpse at the rest of the cast in action, including Aussie comedian Rebel Wilson as Fräulein Rahm, Game of Thrones' Alfie Allen as Finkel and Scarlet Johansson as JoJo's mother Rosie.

The trailer's debut comes just days after Waititi was confirmed to be returning to Marvel's Thor franchise to direct the fourth film, Thor: Love and Thunder.

That project will see Waititi team up with Chris Hemsworth and Tessa Thompson again, but this time he'll also work closely with Natalie Portman who will play Thor.

Until then, JoJo Rabbit will get its official debut at this year's Toronto International Film Festival in September. It is due to hit cinemas in New Zealand on October 24.

This article was first published on the NZ Herald and is republished here with permission.