The 1996 comedy film ‘Space Jam’ showed the Looney Tunes all-stars show the characters teaming up with NBA star Michael Jordan and SNL alumni Bill Murray to defeat alien invaders in a basketball game.
Taking over the role from Billy West, the follow-up ‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ features Jeff Bergman voicing Bugs Bunny. This time, the toons help NBA star Lebron James save his son from a rogue AI played by Don Cheadle.
Bergman, who also voiced the character in ‘Looney Tunes: Rabbits Run,’ recently sat down with Syfy Wire to discuss how the new film will not be a direct sequel, but a standalone feature.
“It’s really not the same film,” he explained. “It’s a really different film. This has a really great personal story that is really LeBron’s story, which is so different than Michael Jordan’s. So, from that perspective, I was really excited because it’s a standalone.”
He also elaborated how the cartoon rabbit has evolved from the first film, comparing him to Tom Hanks’ character Woody from ‘Toy Story.’
“Bugs Bunny reminds me a little bit of Woody in Toy Story,” Bergman adds. “He’s kind of rallying the troops. Woody’s rallying the toys [and] Bugs is trying to get all the Looney Tunes back together, and he’s just so gleeful when [they reunite]. I felt like he was the pied piper a little bit.”
“I did watch the original ‘Space Jam’ again. I certainly wanted to see it because once I saw the script, I knew they were going to pay homage to the original film,” Bergman continued. “So, I did want to watch it.”
“And, I know Billy I am an enormous fan of his,” he said referencing the first ‘Space Jam’ actor. “We’ve worked together through the years, he cracks me up all the time, and so, I did want to see what that was. But, I think very much like Billy and all the actors [who voice Bugs], our reference is the Jedi Master, which is Mel Blanc … Because ultimately, that’s where we all started from, is referencing Bugs Bunny cartoons.”
‘Space Jam: A New Legacy’ is slated to be released by Warner Bros. Pictures on July 16, 2021, both in theaters and on HBO Max for a month after its theatrical release.
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