The former ‘SNL’ star reveals the wayward film is ‘super funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant,’ while the famed voice actor hopes the film’s characters inspire new projects.
Coyote vs Acme, which was shelved by Warner Bros. late last year and then quickly resurrected, may not actually light up the silver screen after all. However, despite its uncertain future, all who have viewed it have had nothing but hopeful, positive feedback.
Last week, Coyote vs Acme star Will Forte (SNL, Sweet Tooth) took to Instagram to admit, “I know that a lot of you haven’t gotten a chance to see our movie. And sadly, it’s a looking like you never will.” The comedian added, “I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: this thing must be a hunk of junk. But then I saw it. And it’s incredible.”
Forte continued, “Super funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant in a very earned way. As the credits rolled, I just sat there thinking how lucky I was to be a part of something so special. That quickly turned to confusion and frustration. This was the movie they’re not going to release?”
Eric Bauza, a Looney Tunes vet who voiced around 10 characters in the film, recently mirrored Forte’s sentiments to IGN, stating, “I went to almost all of the test screenings that were here in LA and people loved it. And I'll tell you why: it's because it was just a simple story. I have been with these characters for almost 20 years now. It's kind of amazing. I voiced Marvin the Martian, and I've been a part of these guys in feature films, TV shows, preschool shows, commercials, shoe endorsements. I've seen them used in all sorts of ways. And Coyote vs. Acme was one of those first times [where I], and at least me as a fan, witnessed this kind of fun simple story about this guy that we know never gets his way and how is it going to work out? And I thought it was great for any Looney Tunes fan and any cartoon fan, they would've totally enjoyed it.”
Also singing the film’s praises alongside Forte and Bauza are BenDavid Grabinski (Scott Pilgrim Takes Off) and The Daniels (Everything Everywhere All at Once), with the Daniels X account pleading, “Zaslav, just sell it / release it and pretend this was all brilliant viral marketing.”
Bauza also pointed out the film, “came in on budget, on time. The picture tested extremely well.” Which begs the question, “Why the cancellation?” Most likely it’s the $35-40 million tax write-off. However, Bauza remains hopeful.
“I hope at the end of the day, if this is a casualty of the financial side of business, that they remember to plant those seeds of other stories that can be told with these characters,” Bauza concluded. “Because what I'm afraid is going to happen is people will see how kind of easy it is to let go of a story that was really, really good, and then people might feel like, ah, ‘whatever. I missed it, I missed it.’ And that's tough. That's tough for me to even think that that might be a regular thing versus, ‘what else are you going to make? Let's make Looney Tune stuff.’ “
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