Will Forte Weighs in on the Canceled ‘Coyote vs. Acme’ Movie We’ll Probably Never See
When it comes to the comedy tax write-off Coyote vs. Acme, Will Forte has seen the other side of the tunnel — but for the rest of us, that light is still just painted on.
In many ways, it seems like Coyote vs. Acme is a lot like Forte. Everyone who’s experienced the canned, completed Max comedy has only the most glowing reviews, yet the movers and shakers of show business have, apparently, conspired to keep it from reaching the massive audience it deserves — at least, I assume that’s what Coyote vs. Acme is like. After all, neither I nor anyone outside a small circle of Hollywood insiders have ever laid eyes on the completed film, and if David Zaslav gets his way, we never will. Back in November, the controversial Warner Bros. Discovery CEO and president decided to cancel the already completed, half-animated, half-live-action Looney Tunes comedy film ordered by his predecessor, Jason Kilar, and recoup $30 million of the film’s estimated $70 million budget in the form of a tax write-off.
Don't Miss
Recently, Forte, who co-starred in Coyote vs. Acme alongside John Cena, Lana Condor and Wile E. Coyote, finally saw the final cut of the film, and his impression of the project was equally heartfelt and heartbreaking. Forte posted his reaction on Instagram in the form of an open letter to the Coyote vs. Acme cast and crew yesterday morning. Here’s what he had to say:
“I know that a lot of you haven’t gotten a chance to see our movie. And sadly, it’s a looking like you never will,” Forte began, ”When I first heard that our movie was getting ‘deleted,’ I hadn’t seen it yet. So I was thinking what everyone else must have been thinking: this thing must be a hunk of junk.”
“But then I saw it,” Forte continued. “And it’s incredible.” Forte described the film as “super funny throughout, visually stunning, sweet, sincere, and emotionally resonant in a very earned way.” Forte says that, upon finishing Coyote vs. Acme, he felt profoundly lucky for having taken part in such a project. However, Forte added, “That quickly turned to confusion and frustration. This was the movie they’re not going to release?”
Forte then wrote one of the most relatable lines a movie star has ever posted on social media, admitting, “Look, when it comes to Hollywood business stuff, I don’t know shit about shit.”
“At the end of the day, the people who paid for this movie can obviously do whatever they want with it. It doesn't mean I have to like it (I fucking hate it). Or agree with it. And it doesn’t mean that this movie is anything less than magnificent,” Forte further expounded, eventually ending the letter with a deeply melancholy, “That’s all folks.”
Forte’s feelings on the matter from his role inside the project echo those of the few outside observers who had the chance to see an early Coyote vs. Acme screening before Zaslav decided to toss the completed film into the inescapable, immoral void of his precious tax loophole. When Max first announced that they’d rather skimp on taxes than release Coyote vs. Acme, filmmaker Brian Duffield wrote in a since-deleted tweet, “I have seen this movie and it is excellent. It also tested in the high 90s repeatedly. It also had interested buyers. The people working at Warner Bros. are anti-art, and I hope multiple anvils drop on their heads.”
Though Coyote vs. Acme theoretically isn’t completely extinct, Warner Bros. Discovery already wrote off their investment in the film when they closed their books on Q4. Barring some highly illegal leak of the film by some cartoon vigilante, us normal folks’ chances of getting a taste of the completed product are about the same as Wile E. Coyote’s odds of ever eating some roasted Roadrunner.
