Mabel and King George have a chat in Hoppers – Pixar
This article contains spoilers for the greatest joke in “Hoppers,” if not in history.
Throughout the annals of film history, there are moments, scenes, and dialogue that filmmakers find themselves having to fight to keep in the final cut. Unsurprisingly, it’s these elements that typically end up becoming the most talked about, innovative, or even iconic moments of their respective movies. Everything from the “Over the Rainbow” number in “The Wizard of Oz” to the Santa Claus monologue in “Gremlins” to a little visual joke in “Dungeons & Dragons: Honor Among Thieves” nearly found themselves on the cutting room floor, and each movie would be lesser had the battle to keep those bits been lost. We have a proud new addition to this motley crew, and it comes to us via the new Pixar Disney film, “Hoppers.”
In “Hoppers,” the teenage wildlife activist Piper (Mabel Tanaka) has found her mind transported into a robotic beaver body, and uses this opportunity to try to help save her local forest glade. Having made friends with the beaver monarch King George (Bobby Moynihan), she convinces him to call a meeting of the Animal Council, so that the creatures of the glade can decide how to combat Mayor Jerry (Jon Hamm) and his construction plans. During the debate, things get heated, and the all-powerful Insect Queen (Meryl Streep), a butterfly, buzzes by beaver Mabel, who instinctively squishes her between her paws. It’s a shocking and utterly hilarious gag which further proves that the film has an ingenious and anarchic edge to it.
As director Daniel Chong revealed to me during our recent interview, the joke almost didn’t make it to the final cut. Fortunately, the gag had a surprising pair of advocates on its side: Pixar royalty Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton.
Read more: What Happened To The Cast Of Wings?
How Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton saved the best joke in ‘Hoppers’
The Insect Queen spreads her wings in Hoppers – Pixar
Given that Disney likes to maintain a generally inoffensive, family-friendly image when it comes to their all-ages fare, one might assume that resistance to the squishing moment in “Hoppers” came from on high. Not so, according to Daniel Chong. In fact, the bit almost died thanks to some impulsive second-guessing on Chong’s part, as he explained:
“I remember after our first screening or second screening […] we were like, ‘You know what? There’s probably no chance we’re ever going to get away doing this. So we should just change it now so that we don’t get this note and get screwed later.’ And so we reboarded it for the next screening and we just had the Insect Queen die on her own and then there was a scene where Mabel and George looked like they killed her, but she didn’t.”
As Chong said during our chat, he and the “Hoppers” team had been working on the film for upwards of six years. Thus, they didn’t want to waste too much time and effort on a moment destined to be cut, and they decided to preemptively change it. However, it turned out that the gag had two very influential supporters who made it clear to Chong that they had its back:
“[…] Pete Doctor and Andrew Stanton were so mad at us. They were like, ‘Why did you change that?!’ And we were like, ‘Well, we thought, because it’s Disney, we thought… ‘ And they were like, ‘No! Put that back in.’ And we were like, ‘Okay, but promise to make sure we don’t have to change this.’ And they were like, ‘We will fight for this.’ So those guys were on board. We were the ones that were second guessing ourselves.”
Piper Curda and Bobby Moynihan were impressed by the joke, too
King George and Mabel are texting and not driving in Hoppers – Pixar
Of course, it wasn’t just Pete Docter and Andrew Stanton who were delighted by the squishing of the Insect Queen. Voice actors Piper Curda and Bobby Moynihan were, too, as they confessed to me during our own recent chat. Curda’s reaction was a mixture of excitement, shock, and terror, particularly when she was told who was to be voicing the Insect Queen after recording her lines for the scene. As she explained, “I think there was a good amount of time between when we recorded the scene and when we found out who was going to be in the scene with me. And when we recorded the scene, they show it to you before you record it, so I remember watching it and feeling like a weird energy from everybody else because I think they knew that I was going to react or something, and I did.” She continued:
“I mean, I audibly gasped and was just like, ‘You guys can do that? That’s crazy.’ And then weeks later, they’re like, ‘Have we told you about Meryl?’ And I went, ‘Streep?’ They were like, ‘Yeah, she’s playing the Insect Queen.’ And I was like, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa. No, no, no. Back up, back up, back up. So not only is Meryl Streep in our movie, I kill her. I murder her. I murder Meryl Streep in our movie.'”
When it comes to Moynihan’s reaction upon first learning about the moment, he put it quite simply and succinctly:
“I remember texting Daniel and saying, ‘That’s the best joke in history.'”
The moral of the story? Follow your instincts, and your dreams can come true … especially when you squish upon a star.
“Hoppers” is in theaters everywhere.
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Read the original article on SlashFilm.