Coyote vs. ACME is equal parts “courtroom drama” and “buddy comedy,” says voice actor Eric Bauza

5 days ago 9

Since the Coyote can’t speak for himself…

The only thing more resilient than the bomb-exploding, cliff-plunging Looney Tunes character Wile E. Coyote is his upcoming starring vehicle, Coyote vs. ACME.

In August of 2018, Warner Brothers announced a new live-action/animated hybrid film called Coyote vs. ACME. Based on a satirical New Yorker article from 1990 by Ian Frazier, the story sees the legendary cartoon character sue the mega-corporation ACME for all of the faulty products it has sent him over the years.

Principal photography began in May 2022, but the anvil fell on November 9, 2023, when Rolling Stone reported that, despite the movie already being completed, Warner Brothers had decided to cancel it and use it as a tax write-off. From there, an outcry erupted from those within the industry and the dedicated fans of the Looney Tunes characters, who compared Warner CEO David Zaslav to the evil, toon-hating Judge Doom from Who Framed Roger Rabbit. Conversely, actor Eric Bauza, who voices several Looney Tunes characters in Coyote vs. ACME, arose as a heroic advocate for the film’s release. A standout moment for the latter came in February, 2024 at the Annie Awards when Bauza, as Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck, demanded the release of Coyote vs. ACME.

In March 2025, after seemingly all hope was lost, Deadline reported that distributor Ketchup Entertainment, who had previously rescued Daffy Duck and Porky Pig’s The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie, was finalizing a deal to distribute Coyote vs. ACME.

After all that, Coyote vs. ACME is slated to arrive in US theaters on August 28, 2026. And, given that the ride for it to get there was more raucous than a Chuck Jones cartoon, Polygon decided to chat with Eric Bauza to ask him what this experience has been like for him, how important this movie is to the future viability of the characters and how Coyote vs. ACME is secretly a buddy comedy disguised as a legal drama.

Polygon: To get started, can you confirm who you play in Coyote vs. ACME? Because I saw Road Runner, Bugs, Daffy, Tweety, Foghorn, Porky, Sylvester, and Pepé Le Pew. Is that all correct?

Eric Bauza: I did 10 characters in the movie, but I can neither confirm nor deny which. But know that there's an abundance of characters.

Well, okay, so you can't confirm who you play, that's fine, but Coyote doesn't talk, right? He's not the “Super genius” Coyote, right?

Correct. He does not talk. He's all pantomime — the strong, silent type.

Coyote in a car with Will Forte and Lana Condor in Coyote vs. Acme

Coyote vs. ACME has had a tumultuous journey so far. Tell me, what has that been like for you?

I swear to God, I've never been a part of a project that was just so much in the public's eye. And, I don't think I've seen a big studio whose headlines that year were more about what they weren't doing as opposed to what they were doing.

Anyway, I was the first voiceover person director Dave Green hired. I was hired to do a table read over Zoom and my biggest victory was making Will Forte laugh. Though, I was just happy to be aboard any one of the projects. I like to say, when Warner Brothers gives me the keys to the Cadillac, I always promise to fill up the gas, not to get any scratches or dents, and put it back where I found it until someone else wants to do something with these characters.

If this movie does not have a Wile E. Coyote popcorn bucket at AMC, then we have failed our mission.

So I do a bunch of recording sessions and I remember working on it the day before the writer's strike. I remember having to go into the booth to do as much improv and as much punch-up as we possibly could. Then, once the writer’s strike started, we couldn't work on it.

I didn't hear from Dave for a bit, then I hear from him when he gets back from England and the film is in the can and, how exciting, it's done. Also, mind you, each time he had come back to visit LA, I had attended most, if not all of the test screenings. I would see the film in various states and it tested well. Who'd have thought that kids want courtroom drama and Looney Tunes together? How sophisticated have our children become?

The writer's strike came and went, then we were in the midst of the actor's strike and we were all on hold. Meanwhile, movies like Batgirl and Scoob! Holiday Haunt had been canceled, so I’d check in with Dave like, “Have you heard anything?” He's like, “Nope, I haven't heard anything.” While all this turmoil is happening, you assume no news is good news and that's what we had thought. He was even asking me “Hey, do you want to help with the marketing of the movie? Let’s come up with some ideas.” I was like, “Whatever ideas I could offer and whatever you need from me, I'm there.” That was the plan that we had set in motion two weeks before we got the call that we were ultimately canceled. The actor's strike ends on a Wednesday, and then we get the news on a Friday that we were now the third film within a year that was written off for taxes.

How did you take the news?

It was tough. Meanwhile, I was working on The Day the Earth Blew Up, which was done on an even smaller budget — just $15 million — but even that was under consideration of being canned. But, I think the decision ultimately was that the budget was so tiny that, even from a production point of view from Warner Brothers, they were like, “We can't not put this out.” So in comes Ketchup, my favorite condiment, by the way, and also, now, my favorite distribution company, and they spearhead this global campaign to fund that movie.

I told them, I will drive them to LAX anytime they need a ride to the airport or wash their car or cook them dinner anytime they want. I was just thankful again that someone saw the importance of these characters and the value of these characters. These characters are at the birth of so many things involved with television and our heritage and who we were and who we watched. And to potentially see them collect dust somewhere on a shelf, is tough.

Can you talk a bit about the public campaign to revive Coyote vs. ACME?

Poor Dave was being so cordial. He basically just let the fans take over. For me, I remember I was asked this question on the press line for the Writer's Guild Awards. I had presented that year and, jokingly, I said, “If you all go watch The Day the Earth Blew Up and it makes a ton of money, guaranteed Coyote vs. ACME will get released!” And, I shouldn't have said that. Who am I to say anything? They don't even know I exist. The higher ups, they have no idea that these characters are even voiced by a human being. But I said that as a joke and Warner's publicity was like, “You're doing it again. You're talking about things you shouldn't be talking about.” But I'm like, “I know. Sorry, I can't help it, but if I don't, who else will?”

Then there was that moment at the Annie Awards where I was playing Bugs and Daffy and I shouted “Release Coyote vs. ACME!” That was a joke that I had pitched and they were like, “No, we can't do that.” So, it was taken out of the prompter, but I did it anyway. I was waiting for that big hook to come out and yoink me off stage. I made a joke, once I got through the whole bit, I said, “Now that that's over — and by that I mean my career,” And it got a big, big laugh. I got a lot of respect from pretty much anyone who was anyone in the animation industry.

That seemed like a big moment in the history of this whole thing. Do you think it helped turn the tide?

Well, it definitely seemed to cause a wave, but there were so many publications and journalists that wrote about it. And, while The Day the Earth Blew Up was more of a cult film, it made its money back and a little more. But, that was enough, I believe, for Ketchup, once again, to step in.

Do you think the cancellation will ultimately end up helping the film?

If you think about it, the marketing is pretty much baked in. This is the movie that everybody knows, or everyone at least in the industry knew, that was jostled around and treated like the red-headed stepchild. Still, with marketing, they have to do more. They have to make it cool. If this movie does not have a Wile E. Coyote popcorn bucket at AMC, then we have failed our mission.

Why do you think movies like The Day the Earth Blew Up and Coyote vs. ACME, which focuses on a single character or an established duo, is the way forward with these characters, as opposed to a big Space Jam-style team up?

I'll tell you why it works, and why something like Space Jam maybe doesn't. Well, the first Space Jam was just an anomaly based off of the success of two Super Bowl commercials that happened in the 1990s, but if you think about it, in the original run of the Looney Tunes, they were never all together. It was always Sylvester and Tweety. It was always Bugs and Elmer or Bugs and Yosemite. It was always Porky and Daffy or Foghorn and Barnyard Dog. They were never ever together and the relationships are all separate. So it's weird for them to interact as a big group.

That's why I think Coyote vs. ACME is going to do well, because it has so much to do with the relationship. You see the Coyote connect with this loser lawyer played by Will Forte. Will Forte is this strip mall lawyer. He's got his office next to Panda Express and he always settles. That's his thing, he always settles. He never wants to win. He'll take any check or any sort of compensation so that he could just get by. So, it's this big relationship movie where you discover who the Coyote is through this guy's eyes and he learns, “Oh crap, you’ve at least got to try.” At the end of the day, you may not succeed, but you have to try and that's how you're going to win eventually.

So it’s kind of a buddy movie setup? I hadn't realized that.

Oh yeah. I don't want to give too much away, but that is a good way to envision this movie. This lawyer is spending a lot of time with this Coyote, trying to build a case and he's not only learning about this weird character, but also himself.

Also, with this movie, it's not pushing a tie-in. There's no nostalgia. It's just a story. Sure, it's a story that we're all familiar with, but I feel like that's the way to go with these characters. If you're going to bring them into any kind of long play or feature, tell a story.

How important is it that people see this movie for the future of these characters?

If you are reading this, you must go see this film because not only is it a good movie — you will laugh, you might even shed a tear — but you will remember why you love these characters so much. And making it a hit would ensure the longevity and the existence of these characters for many more projects and many more years to come.

Read Entire Article