A trailer for Klara and the Sun, a film by Taika Waititi, based on the novel by Kazuo Ishiguro

25 June 2026

The first trailer for the Taika Waititi directed adaptation of Kazuo Ishiguro’s 2021 novel, Klara and the Sun has landed. I’m not one to complain about differences between the book and its movie counterpart — mainly because adapting a novel for the big screen is far from straightforward — but this two minute glimpse of the film version shows up some obvious differences with the book.

The tone of the film, at least the little we see of it in the trailer, is somewhat lighter (no pun intended) than that of the novel. Bordering on the comedic at times. It is not without dark moments though, which the novel is replete with.

Klara, portrayed by Jenna Ortega, as an AF (Artificial Friend), looks startlingly human in appearance. AF’s, being humanoid robots, were meant to look like people to a degree, but it was obvious they were not human. Ishiguro’s novel, for instance, created the impression AF’s were usually shorter than the teenage humans they accompanied.

Here, Klara looks as human as Josie (Mia Tharia), the fourteen-year-old girl she was bought to be friends with. A two-minute long trailer isn’t much to go on of course, but if Taika Waititi is directing, we’re going to get Taika Waitit. That includes lines such as “you’re not the droid we’re looking for”, delivered by Amy Adams, as Chris, Josie’s domineering mother.

Entirely Waititi’s idea that one, I’d say.

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film, Jenna Ortega, Kazuo Ishiguro, Mia Tharia, novels, screen adaptations, Taika Waititi, trailers