Yahoo Lifestyle Will Forte Says Warner Bros. Shelving ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ for $30 Million Tax Write-Off Is ‘F—ing Bulls—‘ and ‘Makes My Blood Boil,’ Tells Fans Not to Forget What the Studio Did
Will Forte does not want people to forget about “Coyote vs. Acme,” the Looney Tunes comedy that Warner Bros. notoriously shelved in order to take a $30 million tax write-off. The decision was widely panned by the film industry. Prior to shelving “Coyote vs. Acme,” Warner Bros. sparked fury for making the same decisions with “Batgirl” and “Scoob! Holiday Haunt.”
“My thoughts were that it’s fucking bullshit,” cast member Forte told MovieWeb in a new interview. “It is such a delightful movie. It deserves so much better than it got. I can’t tell you possibly why the decision was made to not release it. But it makes my blood boil.”
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“Thank you for asking me about it because I like talking about the movie because I don’t want people to forget what [Warner Bros.] did to this,” he continued. “I appreciate them letting us make it, but don’t let us make this thing that we fall in love with and then not show it. I would understand if the thing sucked, but it’s really good. Maybe somehow we get to see it at some point. I hope people do. I was really proud of it.”
“Coyote vs. Acme” was originally slated for release on July 21, 2023 before Warner Bros. removed it from its release schedule and replaced it with “Barbie.” The studio announced at the time that it had no plans to ever release the movie, a $70 million live action-animation hybrid also starring John Cena and Lana Condor. Forte starred in the movie as Wile E. Coyote’s lawyer. The screenplay was written by “May December” scribe Samy Burch.
Four months after Warner Bros. shelved “Coyote vs. Acme,” Forte took to Instagram and posted a note to the film’s cast and crew in which he wrote: “When I first heard that our movie was getting ‘deleted,’ I hadn’t seen it yet. So I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: this thing must be a hunk of junk. But then I saw it. And it’s incredible.”
“Look, when it comes to Hollywood business stuff, I don’t know shit about shit. Even when a movie tests very well (like ours), there’s no guarantee that it’s gonna be a hit,” he added. “And at the end of the day, the people who paid for this movie can obviously do whatever they want with it. It doesn’t mean I have to like it (I fucking hate it). Or agree with it. And it doesn’t mean that this movie is anything less than magnificent.”
Forte is currently making the press rounds in support of his role opposite Amy Schumer in the Netflix comedy “Kinda Pregnant.” Watch his interview with MovieWeb in the video below.
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