‘Hoppers’ Director Daniel Chong Addresses Comedy’s Role in the Pixar Film

Director Daniel Chong is inching closer to the worldwide premiere for Disney and Pixar’s Hoppers, which will be his second directorial credit on a full-length feature since 2020’s We Bare Bears: The Movie. However, Pixar movies are nothing new for Chong, who has credits on nine of their previous films and has worked on the studio’s Senior Creative Team for the last four years.

Considering this is Chong’s first directing credit with Pixar, viewers will be curious to learn about his process in bringing the company’s 30th movie to life. Speaking with MovieWeb‘s Joe Deckelmeier, while noting how “visual-oriented” and “collaborative” the process was, Chong said one of the biggest parts of development was “[drawing] through the jokes” and using comedy for the story. This laughter helped drive the entire movie forward, as Chong reflected on how the team’s laughter “shows up on screen”:

“There’s a very specific process we had, which was very collaborative, but we were very visual-oriented, meaning that we drew through the jokes in a lot of ways. Certainly, people pitched things and we laughed verbally, but a lot of it was us having story artists in the room with our writer and me coming up with funny ideas and making each other laugh and building a really good and collaborative environment for everyone to feel safe to pitch the craziest ideas possible. I think, when we do that, it almost becomes an improv game, and it allows us to just have. really fun time and laugh together, and when you’re laughing, I think it just really shows up on screen. So, I think we just had a great time doing it that way, and I think that’s what led to some of the tone that we have.”

The Classic Pixar Comedy in ‘Hoppers’

bear holding a beaver in its mouth in ‘Hoppers’ trailer

Walt Disney Studios Motion Pictures

Disney and Pixar are well-known for their funny movies, as fans have seen through the Toy Story gang’s adventures, Mike and Sully’s antics in the Monsters, Inc. series and Dory’s short-term memory loss in Finding Nemo and Finding Dory. Looking forward, Hoppers has the perfect opportunity to deliver much of that same comedy and hilarity, especially given the way its premise allows for exploration of a world largely unknown to humans. This film’s central heroine is a young girl named Mabel Tanaka, who works with a group of scientists on technology that allows people to put their brains into robotic animal bodies and integrate with nature.

The Hoppers voice cast boasts some of the biggest names in comedy, including notable Saturday Night Live veterans Bobby Moynihan and Vanessa Bayer, as well as the frequently funny Jon Hamm. Throw in Pixar’s knack for using comedy as one of the most common denominators in its films, and the stage was set for the cast and writers to hold nothing back when bringing the best jokes possible to the story.

Having a new influx of talking animal characters will only make this film’s funny moments shine brighter, as Chong and his team bring their best efforts to a brand new group of heroes and villains. Already teased in the film’s promotional trailers, more of these jokes and funny moments are sure to take the spotlight once Hoppers gets closer to its release date.

Hoppers will be in theaters on Mar. 6, and tickets are available for purchase now.