The filmmakers’ ultimate goal for Looney Tunes: Back In Action was to stay true to the time-honored tradition of rebellious, clever humor that made the Tunes stand out from the pack when they were first introduced, and which has allowed them to remain popular with fans of all ages for decades.
"I think the Looney Tunes endure because they are so funny, so politically incorrect," says Back In Action screenwriter Larry Doyle, former supervising producer for The Simpsons. "This film emulates the irreverence, the biting humor, the nuances in the characters’ personalities and the specific style of animation developed by the legends of the classic Looney Tunes era."
Producer Paula Weinstein feels that Doyle’s script captures the Looney Tunes particular witty brand of magic. "Larry created a story that has the edgy humor that one would expect from the Looney Tunes," she compliments. "They are so funny and beloved largely because they personify qualities that are within all of us: greed, ambition, laziness, humor."
"The Tunes are vaudeville," adds producer Bernie Goldmann. "They have that sense of zaniness. There’s so much to make fun of in the world today – there’s a lot of targets out there, which gives the Looney Tunes so much fodder to look at us and make fun. And that’s why it’s great to set them in Hollywood, a place where people are a little self-important and a little full of themselves." Indeed.
Looney Tunes: Back In Action begins on the Warner Bros. back lot, where world-renowned movie stars Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck are taking a meeting with the studio brass, including stiflingly-serious Vice President of Comedy Kate Houghton, played by Jenna Elfman.
When Bugs’ ever-envious sidekick lobbies the identical Warner Bros. chiefs Mr. Warner and Mr. Warner’s Brother to rewrite their latest comedy as a starring vehicle for himself, Kate is ordered to fire the duck and find a new screen partner for Bugs. She instructs Warner Bros. security guard and aspiring stuntman DJ Drake, played by Brendan Fraser, to physically eject Daffy from the Studio. Naturally, Daffy finds this decision "dethspicable" and leads the security guard on a wild-duck-chase across the lot, which inevitably leads to the expulsion of them both.
Looney Tunes: Back In Action marks the first time Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck and the entire Looney Tunes menagerie star in a feature film set entirely in a live action world and interact with "live" 3-D costars throughout the picture.
"There hasn’t been a combination live-action/animated movie this complicated since Who Framed Roger Rabbit," notes Back In Action director Joe Dante, who first became known to audiences for helming the 1984 Warner Bros. Pictures hit Gremlins, one of the most successful films of the 1980s. "Back In Action isn’t just a bunch of characters shot on a blue screen and inserted into the film. It really looks like an action movie that just happens to co-star Bugs Bunny and Daffy Duck."
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