Bugs Bunny Voice Actor Jeff Bergman on Tiny Toons, Space Jam

Jeff Bergman will soon be back as Bugs Bunny in Max’s Tiny Toons Looniversity. While promoting his upcoming documentary Looney Legends in conversationthe voice actor discussed playing this Looney Tunes Icon of the last decades, including Space Jam: A New Legacy.

Bergman’s life changed when he chanced upon a conversation with the legendary Mel Blanc, the original voice of Bugs Bunny and thousands of other comic book voices. Now he is working on it with Blanc’s son Noel Blanc Looney Legends Documentary. “I think I was a little lost in college. I wasn’t sure, like, “Am I going to be a stand-up comedian or do I want to work in television?” “Do I want to be in film?” I wasn’t really thinking about animation. I didn’t know that was possible,” Bergman shared. “So when Mel Blanc was performing at my college and I happened to see it, [I thought], “Maybe that would be kinda cool, he does voices.” I don’t know what got into me, but a few months later I was working obsessively on animated characters. That was a turning point for me, that was a big change. I was 20 then and nine years later I would do it.”

Bergman’s first project as Bugs Bunny was that of Steven Spielberg Tiny toon adventures in 1990; He was handpicked by the director, who was producing the show about Amblin, and the Blanc family to take over the reins after Mel Blanc’s death in 1989. The show will restart Tiny Toons Looniversityand Bergman will reprise his breakthrough role as Bugs.

He’s now one of the seasoned voices to wear the Bugs Bunny mantle, so this is a moment that really comes full circle for him. He will continue to be the mentor bunny for the toons, including Buster Bunny (now voiced by Bugs Bunny). The looney tunes cartoons, Eric Bauza). Bergman admitted he was surprised at how his love of animation has lasted over the years. “When we first did the show you didn’t know if anything was ever going to happen or if it was ever going to go anywhere – is anyone going to like it? Back then, it was Bugs Bunny’s 50th birthday, and it was just the right job. I know actors say that a lot, but it’s true. “You just don’t know,” he said. “So here we are, almost 33-34 years later. And now they’re bringing the show back once more. And when I heard the theme song [I thought]”Oh my god, this is going to be great.” The storylines are very different. director [Erin Gibson] is wonderful, she’s great, and she wrote for the show. So I think it’s more for this generation today and there will be issues and things that kids can relate to at that time. It’s a different show but the way they wrote it was very clever. I’m excited to see it.”

We had to talk about how Space Jam: A New Legacy has experienced a resurgence in pop culture discourse due to the predictions of action coming true. The film revolves around a villain – AI Al-G Rhythm (voiced by Don Cheadle) who threatens to delete iconic WB content like that Looney Tunes and investing in talent like LeBron James to come in and have their likeness scanned at a big Warner Bros. property (they were ahead). black mirror in addition). The basketball star fights back, but he (and his son) are caught in the WB serververse by the AI ​​villain in a fight over his child, according to another space jam Basketball game – both with the child and Looney Tunes’ livelihoods at stake.

Since the WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes were fighting eerily similar threats, we asked Bergman if he was aware of this when making the film, or if it surprised him when it came true. “Yeah, I mean, there’s this thing with all the predictions The simpsons “I said, ‘Donald Trump will be president,'” he said, realizing how right he was Space Jam 2 was. “That’s funny — I personally haven’t thought about it, but I’m wondering if the director [Malcolm D. Lee] did. That’s funny, but I haven’t thought about it [and] it is now on our doorstep. We all think, “Oh my god, is everything going to replace us all?” I think about it, maybe we could all have been a little more proactive and I thought about it afterwards.”

Stay tuned here at io9 for more updates Looney Legends in conversation. Tiny Toons Looniversity will be released this fall on Cartoon Network and Max.

This interview was conducted during the 2023 WGA and SAG-AFTRA strikes. Without the work of the authors and actors who are currently on strike, the projects discussed here would not exist.

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