"Tom & Jerry" stars Colin Jost, Chloë Grace Moretz and Michael Peña discuss their new live-action film update of the classic cartoon in this interview with CinemaBlend's Jeff McCobb. They discuss acting alongside animals, cracking each other up on set, which cartoon property they'd like to tackle next, and much more.
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00:00 since you work so closely on set,
00:01 do you and Tom still hang out?
00:03 - All the time, you know, he happens to live in LA too.
00:06 And you know, we've been social distance
00:07 hanging in the backyard.
00:09 - Yeah, I figured as much.
00:10 That's exactly what I had in mind.
00:12 - Tom and Jerry are about to start over.
00:14 ♪ 'Cause that's what friends do ♪
00:18 - In the big city.
00:20 (upbeat music)
00:23 - I was wondering if on a set like this,
00:25 you ever feel the urge to adjust jokes
00:28 or improv new stuff?
00:30 - I mean, it was a good group of actors, you know,
00:34 like we liked trying things out on set
00:36 and Tim's story was very encouraging of us
00:38 to sort of find other things in the moment
00:41 and at least try them.
00:42 I mean, that's the nice thing about
00:44 when you're filming something versus SNL, SNL's live.
00:46 So there's a limit to how much you can try on the fly
00:50 because you know, you might not get caught on camera
00:53 or it may mess up other things in the show.
00:55 So this was really, it was fun.
00:57 And I think we found a lot of comfort
00:59 like with Chloe, with Michael Peña, Rob Delaney.
01:02 I mean, Peña made me laugh so hard.
01:06 - Enjoy while it lasts, cousin.
01:07 - So there's so many takes I'm sure were,
01:10 are unusable because I'm just laughing.
01:12 And there's so many takes that are unusable.
01:14 He would make fun of me so much.
01:15 I would just walk into a scene, completely miss my mark.
01:18 And I was like out of focus for the whole take.
01:21 I'd have like a long speech, completely out of focus.
01:23 And he would just stand there knowing
01:24 and just laugh at me and knowing,
01:27 not interrupt me, not stop me.
01:28 Let me do the whole thing out of focus.
01:30 Cause that's how much he wanted to make fun of me about it.
01:33 - Oh yeah. Congratulations.
01:34 Teamwork is dreamwork, right?
01:36 - I talked to Jost yesterday and he said
01:39 that he had a hard time keeping a straight face
01:42 with you on set.
01:44 I was wondering if that's like something
01:46 you ever intentionally do,
01:47 try to get your co-stars to break.
01:49 Is that a part of the process?
01:51 - No, but for me, I don't know why,
01:53 but if I feel like I'm touching on something
01:55 that could potentially make me laugh,
01:57 you hope that that will make another person laugh as well.
02:01 And sometimes you do try to break up, depending on the scene.
02:04 Jost is a funny guy.
02:05 I mean, he's just a really funny guy.
02:08 You know, I went golfing with him a couple of times
02:09 and I was like, even the stuff that he just normally says
02:12 without trying to be funny, he's one of those.
02:14 I mean, he did go to Harvard.
02:15 You know, he's a smart guy.
02:16 - What was it like acting alongside so many characters
02:19 that were not in the room with you?
02:21 - The best scene partners a girl could ask for.
02:25 No, I had a lot of fun kind of trying to figure out
02:30 the technicality of that and what that would feel like
02:33 and what that would look like.
02:35 Oh, wow, this is so detailed.
02:37 And it really, honestly, has changed
02:40 and shaped me as an actor even now.
02:43 I think it really put me to the test
02:45 and it was a bit of, you know,
02:48 acting gymnastics after a while.
02:51 - You rode in on a giant animated elephant.
02:53 What is that like being on set
02:55 with something that's not there?
02:56 How did you guys even pull that off?
02:58 - Well, the good thing is I have no experience
03:01 with a regular elephant, so I have no comparison.
03:03 I wasn't like, this doesn't feel real or,
03:05 but you're on a weird green box
03:09 and just, it was set up with a crazy,
03:12 like, automatronic thing.
03:16 Animatronic?
03:18 Whatever it is.
03:19 But it was like a huge, like, gyrating box
03:22 and it's like whipping around.
03:24 And they're like, so hop on, but we got you.
03:25 And, you know, if it's ever too much, just tell us,
03:27 you know, and you're like, oh God,
03:29 this is like how every set injury starts.
03:31 There's a bar in New York that has a bull,
03:33 like a mechanical bull that we'd sometimes go to,
03:36 like after the show at SNL
03:38 and make each other try to ride the bull.
03:40 And that was, this was the closest experience to that,
03:43 except I didn't have the satisfaction
03:45 of watching Michael Che get thrown off of it.
03:47 That'll be the new wave in cowboy bars
03:49 in "Mechanical Elephant."
03:50 I will not let this hotel be ruined by a cat and a mouse.
03:54 - I'm curious, when casting news,
04:00 like "Tom and Jerry" is announced,
04:02 does Che or anyone write update jokes
04:04 to prod at you about it?
04:05 - I think he'll wait, he'll wait to see the film
04:09 before he writes some jokes about me.
04:11 You're gonna get me murdered.
04:13 He thought it was cool.
04:14 Like he thought it was, you know, he liked "Tom and Jerry."
04:16 I liked "Tom and Jerry" growing up too, you know?
04:18 So it's amazing people came up to me,
04:22 we were filming in London and people came up in London,
04:24 which I didn't even, I wasn't even aware
04:25 how much of a thing it was in London.
04:27 And people came up and they're like,
04:28 "Oh my God, you're in 'Tom and Jerry.'"
04:30 And like there were scenes where I was holding Spike,
04:32 the, you know, the dog in it.
04:34 And they were like, "I can't believe you're,
04:35 you get to be Spike's owner."
04:37 You know? And I was like,
04:38 "Oh, I never really considered
04:39 in the 'Tom and Jerry' cinematic universe
04:42 that that would be a big deal to people."
04:44 But it made me feel like,
04:46 "Oh wow, I really made it, I'm Spike's owner."
04:49 - That's cool, they have a UK market for that.
04:51 - Yeah, I, who knew?
04:52 I mean, again, when you grow up, you have no idea.
04:55 People are from Australia, you know,
04:56 and they're like, "I love 'SNL.'"
04:58 And I was like, "Whoa, you get it? That's crazy."
05:00 - I did interviews with you for "The Addams Family."
05:03 I was wondering if it's exciting to you
05:08 being able to take a fresh spin
05:10 on all of this nostalgic material.
05:13 - Definitely.
05:14 You know, I think I've really had some luck
05:16 to not only, you know, take a fresh spin
05:19 on these iconic pieces of, you know, IP,
05:22 but to really be able to be a part of projects
05:26 that the people creating and recreating
05:29 are as much in love with the original pieces as I am.
05:33 So they're handled with delicate care and so much respect
05:38 and not trying to reinvent the wheel.
05:41 You know, they know that it's kind of a perfect machine
05:45 and to fit a new story within these characters
05:48 that we love so much, you know,
05:49 and to not change it too much.
05:52 - Did you grow up on the cartoon?
05:53 And is that part of the reason you wanted to take it on?
05:56 - I did.
05:57 You know, I grew up in Chicago, so we used,
06:00 my brother and I went to this school
06:02 that was across the street from Cook County Jail.
06:05 It was awesome.
06:07 And we would, you know, we would run to the bus
06:12 and make sure that we were able to get the bus in time
06:16 for "Tom and Jerry."
06:18 We used to watch it all the time.
06:21 - Are there any other nostalgic properties,
06:24 maybe from your childhood,
06:25 that you would like to see rebooted?
06:27 - Yeah, I mean, the Wacky Racers would be really fun.
06:32 You know what I mean?
06:33 I'd love to get into something like that.
06:36 - Wacky Racers, is that Hanna-Barbera?
06:38 - Yeah.
06:40 - That is a whole new world
06:42 that needs to be explored right there.
06:44 - I really genuinely think it could be an incredible option.
06:47 I mean, it's something that I've spoken about
06:49 with some of the people over at WB,
06:51 and I would just, I would love to make that a reality,
06:54 because I think you could make it so cool
06:56 and so progressive and so forward
06:59 and kind of make it this really treacherous race
07:02 towards some really crazy landscapes.
07:05 - Is there any other old cartoon property you have in mind
07:09 that you would like to reboot in the future
07:12 in the same fashion?
07:13 - Oh, wow.
07:14 You know what?
07:16 If they could do this properly, not live action,
07:21 but like an actual, I would love to see the Thundercats.
07:25 Do you remember Thunder, Thunder, Thunder, Thundercats?
07:28 - All right, 2024, "Thundercats" reboot with Michael Peña.
07:31 Congratulations, man.
07:32 - I think I might've just pulled this off.
07:34 - Really?
07:35 ♪ We blowing up the whole thing ♪
07:38 ♪ Everybody in the bouncy house ♪
07:40 ♪ Going bouncy, bouncy ♪