Why Coyote vs. Acme Hybrid Works — Full Breakdown & Transcript

[00:01] wrong. And that's like, oh my god, I have. And that's like, oh my god, I have. That's James Gunn. Acme is evil.

[00:13] is it that [music] makes live-action and animated hybrid movies so special? >> I think the ability to believe the world. stand the test of time. Uh because it is whimsical and

[00:28] unbelievable and surreal. But just like [music] with surreal art that we accept, it is the ability to do it so seamlessly that we believe the world. I think I think that's that's a good [music] place to start.

[00:41] good [music] place to start. >> With animated things you can go bigger obviously and do things you can't do in the live-action world and and um the live-action world and and um and so the blending of the two

[00:55] >> allows you to tell stories that can get a little more absurd >> But yeah, earn it. >> A little more and it's just this It's got to be done right. You got to find the right tone. You got to have

[01:09] Dave Green doing all this work to blend the two worlds seamlessly, but like I you know, and I I really am excited cuz it feels at least to me like we have a very fun use of this blend.

[01:24] people gravitate to worlds like this because they trigger a part for me as part of my brain that activates that childlike wonder again. Where I can kind

[01:36] of like if I'm if I'm the audience and I see a world like [music] ours that we were able to build, it just I kind of feel like anything's possible again. And and in today's world I'm going to hold on to that. Anything that get anything

[01:51] that keeps keeps me believing in something positive, I love. And so, mixing the mediums, mixing different, you know, live action and animation, like [music] all of that just makes me feel like a kid again, and I I love that

[02:06] >> Nothing is easy here. >> I mean, to me, it all starts [music] >> I mean, to me, it all starts [music] with Roger Rabbit as the template. Um because that movie balances tone in such [music] an exciting way. It is

[02:19] [music] an exciting way. It is as silly as it is dark. It is as stupid >> [music] >> I think the balancing of those poles is >> [music] >> And so, that was really for us a north

[02:32] star in putting the whole movie together, and something we really aspired to, um try We tried. We tried to come close. >> Yeah. >> Yeah, I I would always imagine that if I

[02:46] ever, you know, left left uh my home in in Toronto, Canada, and Bunny like auditioning for the same part I was auditioning for. Like, just >> It's so interesting that you bring that up because one of the things that I most

[03:00] appreciate about a movie like this or [music] about a Space Jam is this sort of intersection of the real world and the cartoon world. Eric, for you, when Looney Tunes characters in this more

[03:12] different for you? Is it more challenging? Do you enjoy it more? challenge, but what I love the most working [music] with these characters is working [music] with these characters is whoever's telling the story appreciates

[03:26] and knows the characters and and knows how they work, [music] and that they never really change, but the world around them does. And even [music] if they're, you know, suddenly, "Oh, I got to check

[03:38] my my See if I got any likes today." You know, it's not in your face, it's just part of the story. And I think, again, like, why these characters [music] are just like a good joke is a good joke. Like, a good knock-knock joke written 30

[03:51] years ago still going to work and and kind of bring [music] that same smile that that you had when you watched them for the first time on Saturday mornings >> Is that supposed to be you? And then who's that?

[04:04] >> This started as a pitch from James [music] Gunn a long time ago. It's had kind of a long road to development to get here. What do you think are the clearest [music] signs of his creative DNA left in Coyote vs. Acme?

[04:16] >> Uh that it is on the square. I think James takes the outlandish and leans into the straightness of it. And I think written of a what if. Like hey,

[04:32] >> [music] >> And that's like oh my god, I have. Of like you've [music] been look it is the guy who will take the picture on the you'll be like what? That's James Gunn. And I think that's

[04:47] why he resonated with the article of like you've been doing it wrong for a long time. And I just I just think that the time we've shared I think that that's him.

[04:59] >> Well, so James found the original New Yorker article I believe that the movie which is this hilarious piece of satirical writing [music] that is called Coyote vs. Acme which is you know

[05:12] several pages of legalese with with Wile's lawyer Kevin Avery like with with Wile's lawyer Kevin Avery like defending Wile uh against Acme um >> and it it's laugh out loud funny. It is so tonally dry and so straightforward in

[05:28] its approach and that's [music] to me what makes all of the comedy work is situations. [music] So I mean he was a great ally and a huge supporter and like

[05:41] best [music] moments in the entire process was after he saw the director's the movie and he was [music] just so kind and complimentary and effusive and that was like that was that was a huge highlight for us. Yeah, I will also say

[05:57] like I was thinking about the fact that James is such an animal appreciator and I feel like that that tenderness and that yeah, that kindness towards [music] animals and the fact that Wile E. is an

[06:10] the movie and I just I other day. >> Is there anyone in the whole world who cares what happens to the coyote at all?

[06:25] >> Was there a single moment in the movie that you were most [music] devastated that fans weren't going to get to see? >> I'm not sure I look at it like that. Rather than look at any experience of like if only

[06:39] I was very grateful to have worked with these two performer and made friends along the way. Um I I just choose not to look at it like

[06:51] that because all that stuff all that kerfuffle as we used the word before it's so far beyond my reach and control. >> The thing that stuck out to me it's not a moment from the movie but I got to the end and and was had this

[07:04] done but also my kids cuz God knows I've done some filthy things that they can never see. So so like this was uh

[07:17] a something I felt like I had lost that I >> Elmer Fudd in a courtroom going >> Woah. >> Spoiler? >> You know well I don't know okay.

[07:30] You you know it's a courtroom drama in Looney Tunes. I don't know was that was >> All right. IGN by the way. >> I think what what we hope do is honestly like carry [music]

[07:45] carry the torch and and carry the flame for these characters the best we can because we are just temporary custodians of this historic legacy IP. So, I mean honestly it's yeah, [music] just

[07:59] just an honor to be able to play in that sandbox at all. So, I was I was kind of feeling like oh, it's it's up on you know, a new [music] iteration of of

[08:12] Looney Tunes that that hopefully carries that legacy tone and voice, but hey, we're sitting here with you today. It worked out. It's a miracle. >> Yeah, it definitely is like a take that in my experience with these characters

[08:27] in like the last 20 years it's just it's just so original and not >> anything not an obvious promotion for a shoe which I'm wearing something. [music] It's just a good story and I think with

[08:44] and Wile E. Coyote that like [music] everyone worldwide knows, you know, and it it breaks the language barrier cuz they don't they just go beep beep and that's it, you know, Wile E. goes home hungry.