I never would’ve considered in a million years that a completed movie, that was test screened, that had great reviews at the test screening, that had star power, that had Looney Tunes — in any stretch of the imagination I couldn’t have imagined that it would get canceled and shelved.
Coyote vs. Acmeis a satirical film that takescharacters fromLooney Tunesand brings them into the real world, a laWho Framed Roger Rabbit?As the title suggests, the film concerns a lawsuit initiated by Wile E. Coyote, who is sick of the many faulty and cheap Acme products he purchases to aid in his pursuit of the Roadrunner. Will Forte plays the sadsack lawyer who takes on his cause;John Cena leadsAcme’s legal team. Ultimately, it’s a lawsuit that feels more and more realistic today, with many people questioning the responsibility of corporations and wealthy elites seemingly sheltered from any culpability.
The film is also a philosophical meditation on the meaning of life, believe it or not, deeply rooted in Albert Camus' existentialist book,The Myth of Sisyphus. Because what modern symbol is as Sisyphean as Wile E. Coyote, the one who continues his goal over and over again despite being practically doomed to failure? For Sisyphus, the boulder would always roll back down the hill when he had just nearly reached its peak. For Wile E., the Roadrunner would always just escape his grasp when dynamite, anvils, or gravity thwarted his plans. It’s an amazing conceit with great promise, and yet we may never see it.
That’s because, likeBatgirlandScoob! Holiday Haunt,Warner Bros. has decided to canceland shelve another completed film, possibly for a tax write-off.What does this say about the industryand the state of film production? Will we ever seeCoyote vs. Acme? Can we save it? ActorSteven Ray Byrdhas certainly been trying to.He started a petition (sign here)to convince Warner Bros. that there’s enough interest in the film; his co-stars Will Forte, Eric Bauza, and others have called for support. But it’s more personal for Byrd than you’d think. Byrd spoke with us about the film and more.
‘It Made Me Smile for the First Time in a While’
Coyote Vs. Acme
“I started acting over 10 years ago. I’m in New Mexico, it’s a big place for acting right now, for film,” began Byrd, who told his story to MovieWeb over the phone. “I started a long time ago in background; I actually haven’t done background in a while. I had to ask my agent if it was okay for me to do it, because I saw John Cena was in it and I just said, ‘I’ve got to do this.'” Byrd explained:
I’d lost my son tragically four months before, and I was obviously in a bad place. And he was a big supporter of my career, but he loved John Cena. And my mom, I lost her in 2015, and she was obsessed with John Cena. So I was like, ‘I have to do this. I have to get on this film.’
Byrd did indeed get on the film, and it has changed the direction of his life. “I was like, ‘I’m gonna be in a film with somebody that both my mom and my son idolized. They would be really proud of this.’ It helped me, when I was on that set, because of the fun,” continued Byrd. “I’m telling you, John Cena is freaking hilarious, he’s really funny on set.And Will Forte, watching them interact together, it made me smile for the first time in a while, if that makes any sense. And being there, I figured my mom and my son would be very, very proud of this.” Byrd elaborated on the production:
“I was only in a handful of scenes, but I had a good idea of what was going on in the movie. And the very last scene is really emotional, actually. For a cartoon, you think it’s just slapstick comedy, Looney Tunes, whatever, but it actually has a really good story to it. The writer is Samy Burch, who just got an Oscar nomination forMay December[…] What I love about it is the story, especially with these characters. Will Forte’s character is kind of pushed into the spotlight, him and his friendship with the coyote, Wile E.”
“They selected me for the Acme legal team, which I thought was fantastic, because that’s right there in the thick of John Cena’s team,” continued Byrd. “It’s cool, Dave Green put me in some really good spots, I had some good interactions, and I was able to see what was going on. So the Acme legal team, they’re representing Acme and their products, pretty much blaming Wile E. Coyote for not knowing how to use the products.‘There’s no fault with them, they’re perfect, there’s nothing wrong with Acme, it’s basically the user’s fault’ — that is what’s going on with Acme. So, my character is part of that legal team, goes to court, and goes to the negotiation meetings with Wile E. and Will Forte.”
Warner Bros. Shelves Another Finished Film
It all seemed great, and fromthe recently leaked and detailed synopsis ofCoyote vs. Acme, it was great. As Byrd explained, the film is not only very funny but surprisingly emotional, and as the leaked storyline confirms, it feels likeLooney Tunes and Philosophy. This is not justSpace Jam; this is Space-Time Continuum Jam, something bigger, bolder, stranger, and better. It all seemed great.
“When I found out that they shelved it in the first place, I was on vacation,” explained Byrd. “I said, ‘Wait, what? They did what?’ And it hurt me personally. But then, as I started thinking about when I was on set — because this was in New Mexico, I know a lot of the film crew here, the crew that’s actually behind the scenes that you don’t see on camera. I know a lot of them, and then I saw certain people like the editor, Carsten [Kurpanek], Steven Price, the musical composer, Dave Green, all these heartbreaking posts. I was like, ‘This is deep, this is horrible.'”
Batgirl May Have Been Canceled But This Very Bizarre Bat-Film Remains
David Zaslav might have had an easy enough time dropping Batgirl, but The Wild World of Batwoman has continued to live on since the 1960s.
MovieWeb spoke withthe directors ofBatgirl, Adil El Arbi and Bilall Fallah, after their film was shelved by Warner Bros. and they had this to say: “I mean, it’s the biggest disappointment of our career that we didn’t get to show it to an audience, because the fandom is our boss, you know? The audience is our boss, and they should be the people that actually judge the movie, and if it’s good or bad, if you go to see it or not.” For Byrd, the disappointment came out of nowhere:
“I didn’t even realize cancelations of movies were a thing, to be honest with you. I didn’t even know much about theBatgirlthing until after this happened.I was like, ‘Wait, they’ve already done this?’ This is insane to me. This movie was 100% complete.I mean, 100% complete. I don’t know if you know it had a release date already, July 21st, but they putBarbiein that slot, and they never gaveCoyote vs. Acmea release date.”
Byrd explained how, depressingly, most people found out aboutCoyote vs. Acmewhen the news of the cancelation hit the mainstream. “Seeing everybody’s reactions, and the fans were even — I started a petition, I think it has about 18 thousand signatures at the moment — a lot of the fans were like, ‘What? This sounds awesome! We have to see this!’ They didn’t even know about it!They had no clue that this movie was in existence or was going to happen. I’m like, ‘You guys should’ve promoted this.’ I’m just saying. It’s crazy how many people came out, not just the cast and crew, but the fans as well.”
Why Was Coyote vs. Acme Canceled?
Warner Bros. hasn’t exactly been open and transparent about their business decisions, and not many people know the full story behindCoyote vs. Acme, just the suits behind closed doors. It’s a kind of hellish limbo for everyone involved. It had a release date, it was canceled; it was shopped around, and that was canceled;it was supposedly being deleted permanently, but that may have been a rumor; maybe it’s being shopped around again now. It’s almost comically absurd, like a cartoon.
“I haven’t spoken with anybody exactly, but I kind of know what’s going on. Basically, they don’t believe that it will make the money that they spent, and I thinktax write-offs help a little bit,” explained Byrd. “They spent $70 million to make the movie, and they were going to write it off for $35. So you’re thinking, ‘Well, that makes no sense.’ But I guess promoting and all that stuff – I’m not a businessman, as far as film goes, I have no clue what the business decisions are, but logically, it makes zero sense to me.” He elaborated:
“I feel like, just based on the feedback the first time they shelved — because remember, they shelved it twice. They canceled it, and then they reversed it, and then they said ‘You guys can screen this for people, and we can sell it.’ And they got offers. I think the highest was $40 million. And they said, ‘No, we’ll only do it for $70 million or nothing. This is all from articles I read, this is pure speculation, but I guess there was no negotiation.”
Wile E. Coyote and Capitalism: ACME and the Profitable Pursuit of Desire
In just another day at the office, MovieWeb unpacks the struggles and existential turmoil of a cartoon character ahead of the movie Coyote vs. ACME.
“Looney Tunesis like a Warner Bros. staple, so selling it to someone else and then them profiting off it could look kind of bad, I guess. So just release it yourselves,” mused Byrd, lost in the insanity of it all. “I don’t get it. It’s super frustrating. It’s being compared toRoger Rabbit, and that’s a classic. So I don’t get it […] I think sometimes corporations don’t want to give in, because then it’s like they’ll have to give in all the time. I think it’s one of those things.” It’s hard to settle with any reasoning or justification, though, when the whole thing seems nuts. Byrd said:
But honestly, I don’t understand it. That was a quote from Zaslov, ‘We’re going in a new direction,’ and maybe this movie wasn’t a part of that direction. But you approved it! You filmed the whole thing. You edited it. What’s the problem? That’s my thought process. I mean, a movie with John Cena, and Will Forte, and Lana Condor, and Looney Tunes? I think it’d be good!
Is That All, Folks?
As a working actor, Byrd understands trying things out, failing, then trying again. He understands success and failure, waiting and confirmation. But this seems like something else entirely. “Here’s kind of what I compare it to,” explained Byrd. “I’vefilmed some TV pilots, and when you’re going to do that, you’re hoping that someone will pick it up. That’s a hope, right? You go in there, you give it your all, with fingers crossed that somebody’s going to pick it up and show it. And if they don’t, that’s part of filming pilots and projects and pitching. That’s the difference.”
“It’s just weird that it’s a film that means so much to me personally, so much to my New Mexico film family, because like I said, we’re trying to raise up and be that big name, so it’s not just Hollywood,” continued Byrd. It feels like a defeat in many ways, especially for Byrd, but also for many working actors, editors, grips, assistants, hair stylists — you name it.The more projects that are canceled like this, the less stable and comfortable the entire industry feels."
“It doesn’t give you a lot of confidence,” explained Byrd. “I can tell you this, I had three auditions last week. In the back of my mind, I’m like, ‘Well, what if I book one of these? Is the movie going to get canceled?” And it’s funny, because it doesn’t really happen, but now I literally in my mind am like, ‘Is it gonna happen?'" He went on:
Can you imagine if you told a whole film crew and all the actors, ‘Hey guys, we want you to give 100% and make this awesome, but we are not going to show this to anyone.’ Can you imagine? People aren’t going to give their all for that. When you make a movie, especially with a big studio, this is Warner Bros., you expect the movie to be released.
“Not only does it hurt actors’ residuals, because when the movie’s released they get paid residuals, it also hurts demo reel stuff. Like the cartoonists on this, the animators, the editors – they can’t show this now, they worked really hard on this, and they can’t show this to anybody,” said Byrd with righteous frustration. “That’s a big slap in the face.”
And yet, through his and other people’s social media, the fight to saveCoyote vs. Acmehas gone on. It hasn’t been swept under the rug entirely. People do care. Will that change any minds at Warner Bros.? It didn’t make a difference withBatgirl. But like Wile E. Coyote and Sisyphus, we keep on keeping on, trying for the impossible thing. That’s what makes life, and art, worth it.
you’re able to follow Byrd on X/Twitter@StevenRayByrd, on TikTok@stevenraybyrd.official, and onInstagram here.
