The Emmy-winning voice actor talks about the film’s remarkable journey, voicing 10 characters, his Bugs Bunny feature debut, a Duck Dodgers movie and the future of Looney Tunes.
Wile E. Coyote has spent more than 75 years proving that no explosion, collapsing cliff, or defective ACME product can stop him from getting back up. It is only fitting that his first major theatrical adventure, Coyote vs. Acme, had to demonstrate that same level of determination.
Coyote vs. Acme was completed and originally scheduled to reach audiences through Warner Bros. However, the studio shelved the movie in 2023, leaving its filmmakers, cast and fans facing the possibility that the finished film might never be released. The decision sparked a massive response from across the entertainment industry. Filmmakers, actors, animation fans and longtime Looney Tunes supporters continued calling for Warner Bros. to release the movie instead of allowing it to disappear.
That fight eventually paid off. Warner Bros. sold the rights to Coyote vs. Acme to independent distributor Ketchup Entertainment for a reported $50 million, clearing the way for the movie to finally receive a wide theatrical release.
Ketchup Entertainment had already helped bring another Warner Bros. Animation project to audiences by acquiring the North American distribution rights to The Day the Earth Blew Up: A Looney Tunes Movie. The fully animated adventure gave Daffy Duck and Porky Pig their first starring feature and demonstrated Ketchup’s willingness to support Looney Tunes stories on the big screen.
Now, the company is preparing its biggest theatrical release yet with Coyote vs. Acme, which will open on more than 3,000 screens.
Directed by Dave Green, the live-action and animated comedy gives the famously persistent Wile E. Coyote something he has never had before: his day in court.
After suffering through decades of unreliable ACME products, Wile E. hires struggling attorney Kevin Avery, played by Will Forte, to sue the corporation responsible for his countless injuries. John Cena plays ACME’s powerful attorney Buddy Crane, while Lana Condor stars as Kevin’s idealistic niece, Paige.
The film is based on Ian Frazier’s satirical 1990 article for The New Yorker. Samy Burch wrote the screenplay and shares screen-story credit with James Gunn and Jeremy Slater. Green and his creative team combine grounded live-action filmmaking with the traditional hand-drawn appearance of the Looney Tunes, creating a world where cartoon characters and humans naturally coexist.
Helping bring that world to life is Emmy-winning voice actor Eric Bauza. After nearly two decades of working with the Looney Tunes, Bauza voices 10 characters in Coyote vs. Acme, including Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, Tweety, Foghorn Leghorn and the Road Runner. The movie also marks his first time voicing Bugs Bunny in a feature film.
During an exclusive conversation with Nerdtropolis, Bauza discussed the film’s remarkable rescue, why it works as more than a nostalgic return to the Looney Tunes, and the importance of supporting family entertainment in theaters. He also opened up about Daffy Duck’s wild appearance, pitched a Duck Dodgers movie featuring Marvin the Martian, proposed new theatrical Looney Tunes shorts and called for an animated Ben 10 revival.
For Bauza, finally reaching the point where audiences can experience Coyote vs. Acme feels like a victory shared by the movie’s filmmakers, performers and passionate fans.
“We did it,” Bauza said.
However, he does not see the film’s arrival as the end of the fight. Now that Coyote vs. Acme has reached theaters, Bauza hopes audiences will show the entertainment industry how much these characters and stories still matter.
“For me, it’s more like a fever dream at this point,” Bauza said. “Definitely time for celebration, but also definitely a call to action.”
That call extends beyond the future of the Looney Tunes. Bauza believes the response to Coyote vs. Acme could influence whether more original, character-driven family movies receive opportunities on the big screen.
“We got to make sure that this one is a grand slam for not just the Looney Tunes, but future filmmaking in general,” he said. “When the public speaks up, it is currency. It is a voice. It’s the audience.”
For more on the finished film, read Nerdtropolis’ full review.
Coyote vs. Acme Is More Than a Nostalgia Grab
Bauza says the project was special because its story was built around Wile E. Coyote as a character. It does not simply use the Looney Tunes as familiar faces to sell another product.
“It wasn’t a nostalgia grab or a product placement movie,” Bauza explained. “It literally just focuses on the characters and the scenario that we all know.”
The Looney Tunes have always pushed boundaries. Their classic shorts regularly broke the fourth wall, parodied popular culture and transformed celebrities into exaggerated cartoon characters.
Bauza believes that slightly sharper edge is part of the reason the characters have remained relevant across several generations.
“Looney Tunes has always been a bit edgier,” he said. “It’s always kind of been the first to break the fourth wall, been the first to make fun of pop culture and caricature celebrities.”
However, Coyote vs. Acme does not overcomplicate its central idea. At its heart, the film takes a familiar conflict and examines it from a new perspective.
“It’s just a good movie,” Bauza said. “That’s all it aims to do, is just to be a good movie. So I feel like, for any Looney Tunes fan, especially if you’re a Wile E. Coyote and Road Runner fan, this is gonna be right up your alley.”
Green and his team preserved the traditional hand-drawn appearance of the Looney Tunes characters while placing them inside a grounded live-action world. The production also used a full-size Wile E. Coyote puppet on set, allowing the actors to perform opposite a physical version of the character instead of relying only on an eyeline marker.
The combination reminded Bauza of one of the most influential animated films of his childhood.
“It definitely goes back to my love for Who Framed Roger Rabbit,” he said. “That’s the world where I felt like, if I were to travel to Los Angeles, I would see Bugs Bunny walking down the street.”
That dream became real in a completely different way when Bauza eventually inherited the responsibility of voicing the iconic rabbit.
“I would hope to see Bugs Bunny walking down the street, but that’s not the case,” he joked. “I just became Bugs Bunny, Doc. That’s as close as I’m gonna get.”
ACME Finally Becomes a Character in the Story
The live-action and animation combination works because Coyote vs. Acme treats its cartoon and human characters as residents of the same world.
Cartoon characters have jobs, responsibilities, and access to attorneys when they are injured by defective products. That allows the film to take its ridiculous legal premise seriously while maintaining the comedy of the classic shorts.
“It frames cartoons and humans to coexist, not just be a separate thing,” Bauza said. “If you’re a cartoon and you need a class-action lawsuit, you have the availability of power of attorney, or you have a lawyer.”
The movie also turns ACME into more than a logo printed on the countless products Wile E. Coyote has ordered over the years.
“For whatever reason, I almost feel like those old shorts should have been called Wile E. Coyote, Road Runner and ACME because ACME was such a big part of those shorts,” Bauza explained.
From explosive rocket skates to unreliable catapults, ACME’s products have played a key role in nearly every painful failure Wile E. has endured. Bauza believes the company has always functioned as another character, even when it only existed through its dangerous inventions.
“ACME almost serves as its own character, even though they’re just props,” he said. “They are the rocket skates that blow up on your feet or the catapult that doesn’t throw the boulder but throws you.”
Audiences have spent decades laughing whenever Wile E.’s plans collapse.
Coyote vs. Acme maintains that slapstick comedy while encouraging viewers to see the character from a more emotional perspective.
“We almost never want to see the coyote succeed,” Bauza said. “We almost have more fun watching him fail.”
The film gives Wile E. a reason to fight back after spending most of his life pursuing a meal that remains permanently out of reach.
“He spent an entire lifetime chasing this Road Runner,” Bauza added. “He’s just hungry like everyone else. He hasn’t had a good meal in 80 years.”
Eric Bauza Voices 10 Looney Tunes Characters In Coyote Vs. Acme
Although Wile E. Coyote remains silent, Coyote vs. Acme features appearances from several Looney Tunes characters who do have plenty to say.
Bauza voices 10 characters in the movie, creating another major showcase for his remarkable range. The film also marks his first time voicing Bugs Bunny in a feature film.
“This is my first time voicing Bugs in a feature film, so that’s definitely one,” Bauza said. “Daffy, we’ve seen. Tweety, we’ve seen. Foghorn, we’ve seen. Maybe a few beeps for the Road Runner I may have supplied, so that’s five.”
He did not reveal the identities of his remaining characters because their appearances are meant to surprise audiences.
“I don’t want to spoil the rest of them because they’re all good cameos,” he said.
One of those confirmed appearances belongs to Daffy Duck, who appears to be in a particularly chaotic situation. Bauza offered a hilarious description of what audiences can expect from the unpredictable character.
“He’s nuts. He’s crazy,” Bauza said. “If you’ve seen him in the trailer and your suspicions are correct, he’s definitely in a minimum-security psycho ward.”
Bauza believes the Looney Tunes are most effective when their familiar pairings are given enough time to operate inside their own worlds.
Tweety Bird and Sylvester, Bugs Bunny and Elmer Fudd, and Wile E. Coyote and the Road Runner were each created around distinct relationships. Placing every character together can sometimes prevent those pairings from reaching their full comic potential.
“That’s how the Looney Tunes were supposed to be seen, as these pairs of characters, not necessarily like the Muppets, where they’re always together,” Bauza explained. “When they’re together, it doesn’t really work as effectively because you don’t really get to see them do their thing.”
That approach previously worked in The Day the Earth Blew Up, which focused on Daffy Duck and Porky Pig instead of trying to incorporate the entire Looney Tunes roster into one central adventure.
“It makes more sense to put them in their given scenarios because that’s what they were created for,” Bauza said.
Bauza Wants a Duck Dodgers Movie
Bauza’s history with the Looney Tunes began with Marvin the Martian nearly two decades ago. The character remains one of his most important roles and could become part of another major Looney Tunes project if Bauza gets his wish.
When asked which character should receive a larger spotlight next, Bauza immediately pitched a new adventure featuring Marvin and Daffy Duck.
“Let’s go for the Duck Dodgers movie or another revamp of the Duck Dodgers series,” he said. “Those two characters for me are like gold: Daffy Duck versus Marvin the Martian.”
A Duck Dodgers project could focus on that central conflict while still providing opportunities for appearances from other Looney Tunes characters.
“Then you can have your cameos of other characters,” Bauza said. “That’s something that I’d like to see happen.”
Science fiction has consistently worked well with the Looney Tunes because it allows the characters to enter strange worlds without abandoning their comedy.
Bauza recently explored that combination in The Day the Earth Blew Up, which placed Daffy and Porky inside a science-fiction story involving aliens and gum-chewing zombies.
“Who would have thought gum-chewing zombies would be the end of the world?” Bauza joked. “Not the boba-loving alien, but the gum-chewing zombies.”
He also offered an unexpected pairing for a future short: Elmer Fudd and Foghorn Leghorn.
“Elmer Fudd and Foghorn Leghorn,” Bauza said. “That would be so good.”
Bauza immediately slipped into character and imagined Foghorn convincing Elmer that he was hunting Thanksgiving dinner.
“Be very, very quiet. I’m hunting Thanksgiving dinner,” Bauza said as Elmer.
“I’m not a turkey,” he responded as Foghorn.
“See that house that says D-O-G? That spells turkey. Now go get him, boy.”
“Having Foghorn mess with Elmer would be really funny,” Bauza added.
The Future of Looney Tunes Could Return to Theaters
After nearly two decades of voicing Looney Tunes characters, Bauza still approaches each performance with the excitement of someone beginning his dream job for the first time.
“Every day for me is like the first day of work,” he said. “I could never get tired of this. This will never get old.”
That sense of responsibility has become increasingly important as the characters approach major anniversaries. Despite their age, Bugs, Daffy, Wile E. and the rest of the Looney Tunes remain recognizable to audiences around the world.
“I feel like these characters are that timeless,” Bauza said. “Here we are in 2026 fighting to see a Wile E. Coyote movie in theaters, and we finally got it.”
Bauza would also like to see Warner Bros. revive the experience of discovering classic Looney Tunes shorts through a curated program similar to The Bugs Bunny and Tweety Show.
New animated segments could feature Bugs introducing classic cartoons for audiences on YouTube or another platform.
“What I would like to see, even if it’s on YouTube and it can be done very affordably, is new bumpers with Bugs introducing some of the shorts,” Bauza said. “Kind of like The Bugs Bunny Show back in the day.”
He believes the franchise could also concentrate on producing a smaller number of high-quality theatrical shorts each year.
“I’d be satisfied with just that,” Bauza said. “Really well-done, five- to six-minute shorts with these characters and maybe five to 10 of them a year.”
Instead of chasing another expensive series or feature film every time, Warner Bros. could restore the format that originally turned the Looney Tunes into cultural icons.
“It doesn’t have to be this long series or an even longer, bigger-budget movie,” Bauza explained. “I’d like to see them hand-drawn in 2D.”
Bauza understands that recreating the exact magic of animation’s golden age would be nearly impossible. However, returning to that hand-drawn style and storytelling structure could introduce the characters to another generation.
“We’ll never get to that golden age,” he said. “It’s called the golden age for a reason, but really try to hearken back to that old sensibility of how these characters were introduced to us originally.”
Bauza Believes Children Need More Animated Adventures
Bauza also expressed concern about the lack of theatrical entertainment specifically created for children and families.
“I feel like they’re forgotten,” he said. “I feel like we’ve had eight months of horror movies and then one family movie.”
The actor enjoys horror, but he wants to see a better balance that provides younger audiences with animated adventures, action comedies and memorable characters.
“Believe me, I’m a big fan of Obsession, but more Daffy,” Bauza joked. “You want to see something scary? Watch my cartoons.”
That concern extends beyond Looney Tunes. Bauza would also like to see Warner Bros. revive Ben 10, another major animated franchise that has been absent from the spotlight.
“I don’t know why they’re sitting on that one,” Bauza said. “They got to bring that one back. That’s overdue for a revamp.”
Bauza worked on Ben 10: Omniverse with Matt Youngberg and the late Derrick J. Wyatt.
He believes the concept still has nearly unlimited storytelling potential. The series combines science fiction, action, adventure and comedy through the story of a child who can transform into different aliens with the Omnitrix.
“Where’s the stuff that’s science fiction and otherworldly?” Bauza asked. “The kid with the wristwatch where he changes into aliens?”
Bauza believes animated programs aimed at children between the ages of 6 and 11 have become much harder to find.
“That’s where that fell into, like the action adventure and action comedy,” he said. “That just doesn’t exist anymore.”
Rather than another live-action adaptation, Bauza would prefer an animated reimagining that brings back members of the original creative team.
“I would love to have a reimagining of that and bring back some of the old team,” he said.
His connection to the franchise remains strong enough that he still has a shelf filled with Ben 10 action figures behind his recording booth.
Coyote vs. Acme Finally Reaches Theaters
Coyote vs. Acme represents exactly the type of theatrical family entertainment Bauza wants to see more often. It is funny, visually inventive, and built around characters who have entertained audiences for generations.
More importantly, the film’s journey reflects Wile E. Coyote’s defining quality: No matter how many times he falls, he always finds a way to get back up and try again.
Bauza hopes audiences will now complete that journey by supporting the film in theaters.
“To live in a world where a delicious Looney Tunes hamburger is displayed to you and then taken away is tough,” Bauza said. “You don’t want to do that to people.”
Coyote vs. Acme opens in theaters August 28, 2026.
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Sean Tajipour
Sean Tajipour is the Founder and Editor of Nerdtropolis and the host of the Moviegoers Society and Reel Insights Podcast. He is also a member of the Critics Choice Association. You can follow on Twitter and Instagram @Seantaj.
