With director Pierre Perifel’s The Bad Guys opening in theaters this weekend, I recently spoke with Zazie Beetz and Lilly Singh about making the animated action comedy. Based on the popular Scholastic book series by Aaron Blabey, the film follows a criminal crew of animal outlaws as they attempt their most challenging con yet — becoming model citizens. The Bad Guys also features the voice of Sam Rockwell, Marc Maron, Craig Robinson, Anthony Ramos, Awkwafina, Richard Ayoade, and Alex Borstein. The film is written by Etan Cohen and Hilary Winston and produced by Damon Ross and Rebecca Huntley. The executive producers are Aaron Blabey, Cohen and Patrick Hughes.
During the interview, Beetz and Singh talked about what it’s like making a heist movie for families, what people would be surprised to learn about the making of the film, how Beetz recorded herself dancing, so the animators could use it for her character, their reaction seeing the finished film for the first time, and what someone should watch if you’ve never seen their work. In addition, with Beetz having wrapped on the final season of Atlanta, she also talks about what it’s like being finished with the series.
Check out what they had to say in the player above, and below is exactly what we talked about followed by the official synopsis.
Zazie Beetz and Lilly Singh
- If someone has never seen anything they’ve done before, what is the first thing they should watch and why?
- How this will be the first caper/heist movie for some kids.
- What might surprise people to learn about the making of The Bad Guys?
- Beetz on how she recorded herself dancing which the animators used to animate her character.
- Did the film change a lot during production?
- What was it like watching the finished film for the first time?
- Beetz on if she’s sad being done filming Atlanta?
Here's the synopsis for The Bad Guys:
Nobody has ever failed so hard at trying to be good as The Bad Guys.
In the new action comedy from DreamWorks Animation, based on the New York Times best-selling book series, a crackerjack criminal crew of animal outlaws are about to attempt their most challenging con yet—becoming model citizens.
Never have there been five friends as infamous as The Bad Guys—dashing pickpocket Mr. Wolf (Academy Award® winner Sam Rockwell, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri), seen-it-all safecracker Mr. Snake (Marc Maron, GLOW), chill master-of-disguise Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson, Hot Tub Time Machine franchise), short-fused “muscle” Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos, In the Heights) and sharp-tongued expert hacker Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina, Crazy Rich Asians), aka “Webs.”
But when, after years of countless heists and being the world’s most-wanted villains, the gang is finally caught, Mr. Wolf brokers a deal (that he has no intention of keeping) to save them all from prison: The Bad Guys will go good.
Under the tutelage of their mentor Professor Marmalade (Richard Ayoade, Paddington 2), an arrogant (but adorable!) guinea pig, The Bad Guys set out to fool the world that they’ve been transformed. Along the way, though, Mr. Wolf begins to suspect that doing good for real may give him what he’s always secretly longed for: acceptance. So when a new villain threatens the city, can Mr. Wolf persuade the rest of the gang to become … The Good Guys?