Taika Waititi and Rita Ora are the new couple alert of the week. This is the only thing Kathleen wanted to text me about this morning. Her whole sh-t is that now that she knows Taika is with Rita, she feels like she could have had her shot with him when she produced him a few years ago as a guest on The Social, LOLOLOLOLOLOL. 

 

But that speaks to the difference in levels here, right? As in fame levels, like fame hierarchy, Hollywood hierarchy. 

If Hollywood is a high school, and let’s not pretend it isn’t, there are the cool kids, the kids who will never be cool, and the kids who want to be cool and will never stop trying. There are levels within levels too. This is where Graydon Carter’s theory of the seven rooms of fame would apply. Taika Waititi isn’t just part of the cool kids’ crowd, he’s on the top floor of cool. His friends, Chris Hemsworth and Matt Damon, with whom he’s currently working on Thor: Love and Thunder, are also in the penthouse. 

And then there’s Rita Ora. No matter what you think of Rita Ora, we can all agree that she’s not on that floor. From where I sit, Rita’s been trying to get there, but up to this point, her elevator is taking it one floor at a time, not immediately ascending to the penthouse. Rita Ora has been working to make Rita Ora happen for a while. Which is partly why there’s been a reaction to this pairing. Rita seems… thirsty. I mean, she posted a photo of them together in a carousel on Instagram last week which is what started all of the speculation. It wasn’t the first shot in the series but it was there – and now it’s not anymore, ever since the story started circulating online. Here’s the photo in question: 

 

We had a similar conversation about Rita a few years ago when she was dating Andrew Garfield. Did you forget? We first found out that Rita and Andrew were dealing with each other in November 2018 when she “let it slip” to her friends who then conveniently told the Sun that they were together. A month later they were papped arm in arm around Christmas. They broke up just three months later, with some outlets reporting that Andrew was “concerned about Rita’s life in the spotlight”. 

 

Which brings us back to Taika. Rita, who is in Australia for The Voice, has been seen hanging out with him and his penthouse posse, Chris Hemsworth and Matt Damon, and jetting off on weekend getaways with that whole crew. These are not the kind of stars who want their business put on blast in the Sun though. Not that they have a say in who Taika does or doesn’t romance but this appears to be the circle she’s running in now – and I wonder how much or how little of that she will be sharing. 

These are the dynamics of Hollywood association and cross-level fame fraternisation. Think of how it works with someone like Beyoncé who will not allow you into her orbit if there’s any chance you might exploit that association. Then again, in Rita’s case, it’s not like she’s an entirely unknown entity. Taika wouldn’t be unaware of it, her profile shouldn’t have been a surprise to him. So, maybe, there was always a little thirst in him too and that’s where he and Rita are vibing.