In Universal Pictures‘ animated film The Bad Guys, we follow several misunderstood reformed criminals attempting to turn a new leaf but bump into some disastrous results on their journey.
The delinquent animal crew featuring Mr. Wolf (Sam Rockwell), Mr. Snake (Marc Maron), Mr. Piranha (Anthony Ramos), Mr. Shark (Craig Robinson) and Ms. Tarantula (Awkwafina) are known for legendary heists but are finally caught when a job goes wrong. To avoid a prison sentence, the notorious animal outlaws have to make a change to become model citizens.
Mr. Wolf falls in love with being good while his partners cringe at the idea. Stuck between friendship and love, Mr. Wolf finds himself trying to impress his love interest, Diane Foxington (Zazie Beetz), while battling judgment from his friends.
Tiffany Fluffit (Lilly Singh) is the obsessive news reporter narrating the criminal’s every move. Under the advisory of their mentor, Professor Marmalade, the gang of friends set out to fool the world that they’re the good guys—or maybe they deceived themselves.
Shadow and Act recently spoke to the cast about the new film.
During a heist, Fluffit said, "All stereotypes have been confirmed," deeming the crew a lost cause. Do you believe that people can change for the better?
“That’s my favorite line, so I’m so glad you liked it,” said Singh. “I definitely believe that people can change, and I think people should be given second chances, and all humans make mistakes, and we should all have the opportunity to learn from our mistakes.”
Is there anyone in your life who has inspired you to be more of a badass or even more on a straight and narrow path?
“I would actually say I think my partner, I think, often he encourages me to do more than I think I can and also to be okay with breaking a rule,” said Beetz. “I can be pretty straight edge, I guess. And he’s like, ‘Let’s try this. Let’s do this.’ And I can be a little bit more guided by fear than he is. And so, yes, I would say I think he encourages me to be a more badass version of myself.”
Director Pierre Perifell shared that he could relate to the characters Foxington and Mr. Wolf when they push people to be a better version of themselves.
“It’s like finding people that are able to push you outside of your comfort zone, just make you look at yourself and push you to be the better version of yourself. And I think that’s what Wolf does for the other characters of this film,” he said.
He continued, “Even though [he] is discovering all of this, he’s navigating, which is incredibly uncomfortable for him because it cost him his best friend…but it’s for the greater good. I love that line that she says when if your friends are real friends, they’ll come back. And I think that’s so true. Just be very honest and be open with your friends and just be able to just feel what you feel and say it.”
Catch the animal criminals in the theaters now and watch the full video above.
