by Directing a reboot is no easy task, but it was a lot of fun for director Akiva Schaffer. Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers is a remake of the ’90s animated series that combines multiple animation styles, cameos from your favorite Saturday morning cartoons, and a heartwarming story of friendship into one big family adventure.
Taking place some 30 years after the end of the Rescue Rangers cartoon, Chip and Dale are two retired Hollywood actors and former best friends who don’t keep in touch. When one of their former co-stars goes missing, the two must reunite and become detectives once again to save their friend’s life and solve the mystery of the missing toons.
Total Film sat down with Schaffer, best known as part of Lonely Island and for directing Popstar: Never Stop Never Stopping, The Watch and Hot Rod, to talk about the film, including the challenges of directing live-action animation, the reboot of Hollywood. fever, and paying homage to both 2D and CGI animation styles. Plus, we have an exclusive new look from Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers! Take a look at our conversation below, edited for length and clarity.
Total Film: I know the idea was always to make a live action Alvin and the Chipmunks movie before I signed on as director. What made you decide to go further and combine multiple animation styles? Or was that always the plan?
Akiva Shaffer: That was part of what attracted me. The writers, Doug Mann and Dan Gregor, had already figured that part out. It was already planned that Chip was going to be 2D and Dale was going to be 3D throughout the whole movie and that it was kind of a cartoon world of Roger Rabbit Living Among Us, where some are movie stars and some are just, as, the cow teacher in his school. That was all there. And that was a big part of what got me signed on to do it. It was kind of limitless possibilities of that idea.
And this is your first animated film, correct?
Yes Yes. That was also part of it: I wanted to learn not only how animated movies are made, but how modern ones, like Doctor Strange, are half-animated movies with animated characters and computer generated environments. All the modern shooting tools for those kinds of movies are the same tools we use for this. So I was excited to learn all those things.
You have a few movies under your belt as a director, so this isn’t your first rodeo. But with this being your first foray into live action animation, were there any challenges?
There were challenges, but I wouldn’t say it was more difficult. [than a regular film]. The challenge is that it’s like making a live-action movie and an animated movie on top of each other at the same time. But I will say that with the shoot, with very few actors on set, because you’re shooting mostly empty frames with actors in the background, it was actually a very calm and relaxed set compared to a normal live action shoot. You didn’t have to worry about getting someone in a good mood or how many takes you were going to have to do. It’s very quiet: when you yell action, no one starts talking. It’s just a kind of still camera following a puppet on the ground, like a little remote control car.
It changes as you do, it grows as you add actors and improvisation and realize what works and what doesn’t. I mean, part of the joy is that, similar to any animated film, you can shape it as you build it, as it goes along, whether that’s before we shoot, when we’re doing storyboards and animations and previews and all that. You’re constantly rewriting it and then filming it. But again, it’s not like a normal movie, the actors don’t say what they’re going to say, it’s plates and stuff for the most part.
Then you put it in postvis and add the actors again. I did a full version of the movie where it was my voice for each character. And I had done it all on my iPhone because we were editing in Premiere. My publisher was at his house. I am at home. We are both editing at the same time and I would just do lines. And if it didn’t work, we’d just change the line right away.
The movie is very meta. Was that part of what made you want to sign or was that your idea too?
All the seeds, all those ideas, all the meta stuff, all the teasing of reboots [were in the script]. When the script was first handed to me, it was a version from 2016; I got it in 2019, it was a 2016 version. And it said, “The Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers reboot no one asked for.” I think that was the whole title. So just reading that, you knew he would make fun of himself.
I loved the scene with the parody reboot billboards.
Like a few other things that have come out, it’s having his cake and eating it too, you know? It’s always a fine line because we make fun of reboots, but are a reboot. So I hope everything is taken with joy. It’s not a coincidence that at the end of the scene where Chip is walking down the street, he sees the sign and says, “Okay. Yeah. That one looks pretty good.” And then when he’s at home watching him and he doesn’t want to admit it, but he loves it. So I’m not really cynical about those things. I didn’t want it to come off as sour or negative or like being in a greenhouse throwing rocks.
It definitely doesn’t look negative. If anything, it just adds another layer to the film’s self-awareness.
That’s good. That is a kind of intention. And I feel like that’s how everyone feels about [reboots]. Everybody’s like, “Oh, another reboot,” but then they’re like, “Oh, but you know what? Uh, Maverick looks really good. I’m really excited.” You’re like, “Oh, they’re going to do another Top Gun, rolling eyes.” And then you see the trailer and you’re like, “No, I’m going to be first in line for that.” Hopefully it’s kind of a universal thing at this point.
Personally, I was hoping that MC Skat Kat would have a bit more of a cameo.
[Laughs] Anyone who knows and loves MC Skat is a friend of mine. He was so excited when [filming that scene]. I was like, okay, it’s 1990, these guys are hot in the city, they’re having a rap party. Who is the coolest person to be at your party in 1990? I was like, MC Skat Kat, DJing your party. That’s like, elite. That is really special.
The moment I saw that in the trailer, I thought this movie was made for me.
As a huge fan of Roger Rabbit, I was excited to not only have Roger [in the film] but to be able to get the original artists who did Roger Rabit to draw Roger Rabbit and to get Charles Fleischer, who did the original voice, to do the voice and be able to be in the room through the whole thing. But the most exciting thing was getting Roger Rabbit to do the Roger Rabbit dance. That has never been done! I mean, that’s just so I can build it. [To say] “Draw me Roger Rabbit doing Roger Rabbit!” and being introduced to it… That’s divine. That is the journey.
And then, in complete contrast to that, you included the cats of 2019 cats.
Some of the people on our VFX team, including our VFX supervisor, worked on Cats…for better or worse. So I don’t know if it was, um, cathartic for them or traumatic for them to have to create some cats for the movie. We would have to ask them. [Laughs]
There are also jabs at the CGI of the early 2000s and the weird-looking video game characters of that era – it explored just about every type of animation out there.
Part of the thrill of the movie was being able to do stop-motion and puppetry and Pixar-style and Flounder and then Zemeckis’ first moves.
I’ll say, [Zemeckis’ 2007 film version of] Beowulf – I, [Lonely Island collaborator] Andy [Samberg]and Jorma [Taccone] they’re such big fans of Beowulf that we saw it in theaters and it was like a week before it came out of theaters. It was in 3D and on the giant screen and we thought… what did we just see? This was one of the most amazing things, but it’s also crazy. The character pops out of a snake’s eye and yells his own name, “Beowulf!” We were desperate to see it again, but it wasn’t in theaters.
So we did a projection, we got a [Digital Cinema Package] and we have the Sherry Lansing Theater, which is on the Paramount lot. It’s like a 100-seat private theater. so, we have [our friends] Phil and Chris, who had just made Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs, and had access to 3D glasses, so they bought a hundred pairs of 3D glasses. We emailed all of our friends, this before we all had kids, and then I got a bartender to come over and make an open bar.
And we did our private screening of Beowulf! For a hundred friends, for no reason, just because we said, “You have to have this experience with us.” I think they all had Jägermeister shots, which is not what we normally drink, but it was part of the joke. I guess a lot of people came, I don’t want to name names, but even Jake Gyllenhaal was there. He hated it. we don’t know he came to the screening. I don’t know how he felt afterwards.
It was a great night. It is one of my most pleasant evenings. So I just wanted to say that to let you guys know that we’re not just making fun of Chip ‘n Dale. We did it with love.
Speaking of Andy and Jorma, is The Lonely Island mostly focused on the film/producer side of things at the moment or can we anticipate a return to music… or an Awesometown reboot?
[Laughs] An Awesometown reboot! I don’t think we’ll get an Awesometown reboot. The rest of things are at stake. You know, we don’t have anything in the hopper. I wish I could tell you that we had done a bunch of songs that he was sitting on. That’s not the case, but you know, we’re still in a text message chain from Andy, Jorma and Akiva every day chatting. So hopefully we’ll think of something. It’s hard with the pandemic. I won’t lie, it slowed down our ability to do those things right now.
I have my [Awesometown shirt] somewhere in a box. I also have one that’s orange and says “Seth” that Seth Meyers bought the three of us one year to say “Hey! I want to be in the group!”
Chip ‘N Dale: Rescue Rangers is available on Disney Plus starting May 20, 2022. To learn more, check out the best movies on Disney Plus right now.
