'Coyote vs. Acme' Is Looney Tunes for People Who Read The New Yorker

It Was A Book First

Sophie and Rudi from 'It Was a Book First' explore the unlikely adaptation of Ian Frazier's 1990 New Yorker humor piece 'Coyote vs. Acme' into a hybrid live-action/cartoon film.

Key takeaways

• The original New Yorker article is a satirical courtroom drama written in legal dialect, showcasing Ian Frazier's sharp humor and narrative precision.
• The film adaptation successfully translates the article's absurdist tone into a visually inventive hybrid of live-action and animation.

Main topics

• Adaptation of a New Yorker humor article into film
• Hybrid live-action and animation in modern cinema

Notable quotes

"It is written so seriously as if it is a court case." – Sophie on the tone of Frazier's original article.

Conclusion

The episode celebrates 'Coyote vs. Acme' as a rare and brilliant adaptation that honors its literary roots

Transcript preview

Speaker 2 (0:10) I'm Sophie and I love books. Speaker 1 (0:11) I'm Rudy and I love movies. And this is It Was a Book First, the podcast about new book-to-screen adaptations. Today, we're discussing the movie David Zasloff, Warner Brothers, and the Acme Corporation didn't want you to see. Coyote vs. Acme, a hybrid live-action and cartoon revival of the Looney Tunes that's based on Ian Frazier's 1990 New Yorker humor piece of the same name. The film, which was infamously deleted for a tax write-off by Warner Brothers before backlash led to it being acquired by Ketchup Entertainment, features human performances from Will Forte, Lana Condor, and John Cena, alongside Wile E. Coyote, the Roadrunner, and many other iconic Looney Tunes characters. Speaker 2 (0:55) Breathtaking performances by all. If you're new here, Rudy and I are culture reporters, and on this podcast, we discuss the page-to-screen adaptations everyone is talking about. I read the book, or in this case, the article. We both watch the TV show or movie, and then we discuss the differences and what we thought of the new adaptation. And yes, that means there will be spoilers throughout for the film and for the New Yorker humor piece. Speaker 1 (1:18) Though I don't know how you could really spoil that Speaker 2 (1:20) piece. Yeah, and it's from 1990, so maybe go read it and then come on back. Speaker 1 (1:24) Exactly. Next week, we're discussing Practical Magic 2, the long-awaited sequel to the beloved 1998 film Practical Magic, in which Sandra Bullock and Nicole Kidman reprise their roles as sisters who were witches. The sequel is based on Alice Hoffman's 2021 novel, The Book of Magic. Speaker 2 (1:43) Reminder to like, rate, review, and subscribe wherever you get podcasts. Follow us on Instagram at itwasabookfirst, on TikTok at itwasabookfirst. Watch this episode on YouTube at itwasabookfirstpodcast or visit the website at itwasabookfirst.com. If you have a question for us or want to reach out about something, email us at itwasabookfirstpod at gmail.com. Speaker 1 (2:03) Before we get into talking about... the Looney Tunes. I want to add to our rom-com discussion from a few episodes ago. Over the weekend, I actually saw like a really cute rom-com. So it's called Finding Emily. It's this charming British rom-com starring Anne Gary Rice and Spike Fern. It's an original script, but it honestly feels like it could have been based on a YA novel. And I'll kind of get to that when I get into the plot for a second. So in it. There's a 20-something boy who works at a college in Manchester City, and he has a meet-cute with, like, a manic pixie dream girl named Emily who gives him her number but leaves off a digit, which kind of sends him on this, like, wild goose chase to try to find her. That leads to him emailing every Emily at this university in the hopes of finding her. That also leads him to another Emily, who's a psychology student played by Anne-Gary Rice who takes an interest in what she sees as... romantic self-sabotage and wants to use him as a case study for her thesis, which is basically about how like love is love and relationships are bad and kind of make you do bad things. So saying all that out loud, it's a little high concept, but it's also really grounded in rom-com tropes. I would say in a good way. And in like the characters themselves, it might be the. best Gen Z focused rom-com that I've seen. It's really cute. It's really sweet. It's really funny. Spike Fern, who was in Ella McKay last year, if you saw that kind of hilarious train wreck of a movie, he is particularly charming as Owen, the guy who's looking for Emily. This is a focused features film, so I think it'll end up being on Peacock eventually. It's probably going to be out of theaters by the time you hear this, but I really recommend checking this out. We bemoaned the lack. of rom-coms and how bad One Night Only was. And this is, I think, an example of the kind of movies we need more of. It's just, it's cute. It's sweet. It's funny. It's a little silly and goofy and unrealistic, but I don't know. It charmed me and I had a really nice time with the movies. Speaker 2 (4:12) Oh my God. I've got to check that out. Speaker 1 (4:14) Yeah. Yeah. It's really fun. Speaker 2 (4:16) My recommendation this week is kind of the opposite vibe of that. I am going to join the choruses of people hailing furious as probably one of the best things I've seen in a long time, but definitely probably the best thriller I've seen on TV in a long time. So. This is a new series on Hulu right now. It is starring Emmy Rossum and Lola Petticrew. Emmy Rossum is a former NYPD cop who is now in the FBI. She is escaping her awful ex-boyfriend who is, of course, played by Jake Lacey because who else would Jake Lacey be but a character we all want to punch in the face who is an NYPD cop. And it is... The thing that comes to mind is Killing Eve in the sense of we have a female serial killer and we have the person chasing her. But it is much, first of all, there's no like romance between them. It's not campy. It's not sort of lighthearted in the same way. This is really a show about trauma. Speaker 2 (5:23) You look like you want to say something. Well, Speaker 1 (5:25) no. Is it funny at all? Because, okay, for listeners to know, this show is created by Elizabeth Merriweather, who also created New Girl, which is a sitcom. There Speaker 2 (5:33) is, Rudy, nothing funny about this. I mean, yes, sure, they add in levity in a way that I think any good, serious show has. But this is a show about deep... trauma and horrible things happening to women and how that manifests in anger and fury and violence and also like what we as women owe to each other and complicity in our own actions and it is incredible I also just want to shout out uh Steve Way who's an actor in it he is um physically disabled and is in a wheelchair and is giving a performance that I don't know if I've seen someone be like given the opportunity to have on screen before and it is just he is so good in this he is funny in this like in technique in a way that he is like you know fucking with the cops and like doing funny things with his wheelchair because he's like all cops are bastards like it is a really he is so so good in this emmy rossum and lola pedicure will probably be dueling for who gets the emmy for this if they're in the same category i cannot recommend this show enough. Speaker 1 (6:44) Cool. Well, it's been on my list since it premiered a couple weeks ago. And once I finally get through Widow's Bay, which I started watching, that'll be next. That is my other Speaker 2 (6:54) favorite show of the year. These are definitely my two favorites. Nice. Speaker 1 (6:58) Well, let's talk about a movie that I think we were both charmed by. Coyote vs. Acme, which, as we mentioned, comes from a humor piece. So if you want to talk a little bit about... The humor piece before I get into the long, winding journey that got this thing finally to the screen. Speaker 2 (7:15) So I had not realized how long ago this humor piece was from. It is from February 19th, 1990, 36 years ago. So a while. This was written by Ian Frazier, who has been a contributor since 1974 and is still a contributor to The New Yorker. This was in the shouts and murmurs section, which for anyone who doesn't know is like their humor. section. I can tell you like a thing I aspire to more than anything as writers to get something placed there. I've had two rejections, both very nice. One Speaker 1 (7:44) calling Speaker 2 (7:45) me quote funny, although it was not for them, which I will take as basically an acceptance anyway. Speaker 1 (7:50) It Speaker 2 (7:51) is called Coyote versus Acme colon in the United States District Court comma Southwestern District comma Tempe, Arizona case number B19294. Judge Joan Kujavan comma presiding. Now, it is written so seriously as if it is a court case. It is written in full dialect as the lawyer giving the opening statement of, look at all these things that have happened to my client, Wiley Coyote. I don't know. I never read this before. I'm not sure about you, but I was. I read it after Speaker 1 (8:24) the movie, but had not. I Speaker 2 (8:25) read it right before seeing it yesterday. I was cackling. Yeah, it's Speaker 1 (8:30) very Speaker 2 (8:30) funny. It is so clever. Just like conceptually. This is brilliant. Yeah, Speaker 1 (8:36) it's a very funny concept and a very thin concept for a film. You Speaker 2 (8:42) know... Speaker 2 (8:45) I mean, there's a lot to work with here. Speaker 1 (8:48) So this is a podcast where we will admit this is a little bit of a change from what we usually do, right? This is called It Was a Book First, not It Was an Article First. But we are talking about an article because I think, one, we like the idea of talking about adaptation in many forms, but particularly when it comes from the written word. This is also an adaptation of beloved IP that is among the most. kind of successful in terms of like an animated franchise and has been around for, I think like 75 years or something like that. I think the first appearance of Wile E. Coyote in The Roadrunner was in 1949. So this is a long running thing that has been adapted over and over again. So it's kind of this cool collision, right, of adapting written word, adapting existing IP and trying to turn this into... A movie. And listeners of the podcast who have been with us for at least the last couple weeks may remember that we did an episode on the film Late Fame where we interviewed writer Sammy Birch, who is also the writer of Coyote vs. Acme. And, you know, we talked to her briefly about Coyote vs. Acme in that interview. And one thing that stuck out. I mean, talk Speaker 2 (10:03) about range. Speaker 1 (10:04) Yes, talk about range. May, Speaker 2 (10:05) December, Late Fame. Coyote versus Acme. Like that is talent. Speaker 1 (10:09) Three Speaker 2 (10:09) very different movies. Speaker 1 (10:11) Three movies that I really liked. And Speaker 2 (10:13) one thing Speaker 1 (10:13) that stood out for me from that interview was she said, quote, there's not a plot there. It's a tone in terms of the Ian Fraser piece. And I think it's a good way to think about this. Like it is very much a, it's like a setup. And an idea that this is straightforward, like court case. Speaker 2 (10:32) To me, it feels like. a commitment to take the bit seriously. And that is what was taken from the article directly into this is we are setting up an absurd concept, but we are going to take it so seriously. And that is what makes the movie so funny. Speaker 1 (10:52) I agree with you. And so the plot of this movie is like very simple. Why we eat coyote. After years of using defective Acme Corporation products to unsuccessfully aid his attempts to capture the Roadrunner, sues Acme for damages. Along the way, his legal team, led by Will Forte and Lana Condor, unveil a larger conspiracy that Acme CEO Foghorn Leckhorn and his chief legal counsel, played by John Cena, have worked to bury. So Speaker 2 (11:20) this is like, it's a legal thriller. Speaker 1 (11:22) I'm going to Speaker 2 (11:23) tell you, this is catnip to me. Like, I am a person who has watched Runaway Jury and, like, Erin Brockovich more times than I could ever count. I love a legal thriller. Like, you put some chemicals in water and you have a lawyer. I watched The Lincoln Lawyer literally the night before this. The show or the movie? The movie for the first time. It was great. Nice. I love this kind of stuff. And so this. really surprised me. You know, you and I are both childless adults. I'm not sure what your relationship to cartoons is. I will just say for me, I am not really a cartoons person. I don't really find characters like getting hit over the head and getting injured like funny. Did you ever? No, I didn't. You weren't a Speaker 1 (12:13) Looney Tunes kid either. Speaker 2 (12:15) No, I watched like the Rugrats. I needed like a higher brow. And I don't mean animation. Like I love BoJack Horseman. I'm talking about like really classic. We're running around. We're getting into hijinks. I think I also find not to jump the gun, like Sisyphusian things, very annoying. Like, okay, we know you're not going to get the Roadrunner. So like, this isn't fun to me. And I am just going to say like, this is a PG movie that I loved basically. every second of. Like I had a blast in this screening. I loved it. Speaker 1 (12:49) I love to hear that. And I think even the Sisyphusian thing like kind of subverts your expectation a little bit. I think that's part of what it's kind of pushing against to be sort of on the nose. But so I definitely was a cartoon kid. I loved cartoons. I certainly have a connection to the Looney Tunes. I definitely watched, you know, Looney Tunes cartoons and Tiny Toons and things that were kind of like spinoffs of the Looney Tunes universe, like Pinky and the Brain and the Animaniacs and, you know, all, you know, all these kinds of movies that, you know, Space Jam, things like that. Like Looney Tunes were definitely a part of my life. And I think for