Mike Myers To Voice Pepé Le Pew In New Movie
He's French, he's in love and he stinks. Of course, we're talking about Pepé Le Pew, the famously accented Looney Tunes skunk who strolls around Paris looking for beautiful women. Well, it seems that everyone's favorite lovelorn skunk is going to be coming to the big screen and that he'll be voiced not by the late Mel Blanc, but instead by none other than the current man of a thousand voices, Mike Myers. Warner Brothers is developing a film based on Pepé where he and the girl of his dreams, Penelope Pussycat, would be CG characters and everyone else would be real. Hit the jump for more on this turn of events and to see a video of what Pepé Le Pew means in today's popular culture.
Vulture broke the story of Myers' involvement in this project and said that "the decision to reinvigorate the Looney Tunes cast of characters — which includes fading American icons like Bugs Bunny, Daffy Duck, and Porky Pig — is a high priority for Warner Brothers...." Does that mean we're going to get big screen films starring all of the Looney Tunes? Anything is possible, they are shooting a movie based on Battleship after all. Warner Brothers is losing the Harry Potter franchise next year and while they have more Batman and Superman films on the horizon, they've been looking at all their properties to find sustainable franchises to fill Potter's billion dollar hole.. That's why we're getting Green Lantern next year and why other DC characters could be coming in a few years.
The last time the Looney Tunes were on the big screen was Looney Tunes: Back in Action which tanked, making about $20 million domestically against an $80 million budget, according to Box Office Mojo. Part of the reason could be because today's kids simply don't know the Looney Tunes. According to the Vulture article, there's E-Poll Market Research data which says while 68% of audiences over 13 know who Mike Myers is, only 66% of those people know Bugs Bunny and 56% know Daffy Duck. And those are people OVER 13, who probably aren't even the audience for a Pepé Le Pew movie.
Personally, when I think of Pepé Le Pew, I think of the below clip from the Dave Chappelle comedy special Killing Me Softly. It's NSFW but hilarious. After you watch, let me know – do you think this movie is a good idea? Are you surprised a Pepé Le Pew movie is coming before a Bugs Bunny movie?