EXCLUSIVE: For Taika Waititi, the birth of Jojo Rabbit goes back to mom. It was his Jewish mother who brought Christine Leunens’ novel Caging Skies to his attention, and he became immediately smitten.

Without disruption, we’re doomed to repeat ourselves,” says Taika Waititi. He applies the label to his own sense of adventure in filmmaking, insisting that he must disrupt his own comfort in order to ...