The Bob’s Burgers Movie is on the way, and consequently, I’ve had multiple opportunities as of late to speak with the cast. Before we get into the meat of this article, it’s important for me to explain that speaking with comedians and comedy writers can sometimes be a bizarre phenomenon. If they’re feeding off of each other and feeling a little slap-happy from a full day of doing press, it’s common for conversations to go in strange directions. In this case, we landed on a discussion surrounding a live-action Bob’s Burgers, who would be cast, and why it’s something that the creators will never, ever do.
During WonderCon 2022, CinemaBlend attended interviews and a panel for Rosa Salazar's Undone, which utilizes live-action rotoscoping to capture live performances by actors with an animated element added in post-production. Much of the cast and crew of Bob’s are big fans of Undone, which is a fantastic show. Perhaps you now see where this story is going. When we (half-jokingly) started discussing the idea of doing a live-action version of Bob’s Burgers, perhaps in the same manner that Undone was created, Bob’s Burgers creator Loren Bouchard shut that idea down immediately:
I love Rotoscope stuff from when I was a kid. I love Lord of The Rings and American Pop In particular. It would be absolutely bizarre to do it on Bob’s. It’s so fun to tweak it, break it slightly without breaking it all the way. You wanna do that really carefully. You want the fans to get a new thing that lights up a new part of their brain that doesn’t make them want to bring it back to the store and get their money back.
While no one sincerely thinks that a live-action version of Bob’s Burgers is a good idea, this really isn’t the craziest question in the world. They used 62 different animation styles in one episode of Season 8, and the longest-running animated show of all time, The Simpsons, has famously dabbled in live-action on occasion. Of course, that show has over two decades of seniority on Bob’s, but 12 seasons and a movie isn’t bad, so who knows what kind of bonkers experiments the future holds. Remember, they had once planned to make the whole Belcher family cannibals, so it kind of feels like nothing is off the table.
When I asked the same question to H. Jon Benjamin (Bob), John Roberts (Linda), and Larry Murphy (Teddy), they ran a little further with the joke. John Roberts compared it to the live-action Flinstones, suggesting that the live-action Bob’s should also star John Goodman and Rosie O’Donnell as Bob and Linda respectively. It was eventually determined that Goodman would play a better Teddy, and that Bob should instead be portrayed by Tony Shalhoub. You can see the ridiculous exchange in the video at the top of this article.
If you’ve seen the trailer for The Bob’s Burgers Movie, you already know that it’s pretty bonkers. Critics seem to love it, with our very own Eric Eisenberg giving it four out of five stars in our official review. You can see it for yourself in theaters on May 27. As for the other theatrical releases you can look forward to in 2022, check out our release schedule.
