Zendaya, the Emmy Award-winning actor who has starred in the Spiderman: Homecoming series, will lend her voice to cartoon character Lola Bunny in the film Space Jam: A New Legacy, the Entertainment Weekly reported.
Space Jam: A New Legacy features American basketball player Le Bron James. It will release theatrically and on steaming service HBO Max on July 16.
The animated sports comedy film is a sequel to the 1996 film Space Jam, that featured renowned basketball player Michael Jordan.
Welcome to the Jam, @Zendaya 🏀 https://t.co/BAp4UZuwkf pic.twitter.com/Z9wYts9IFp
— Space Jam: A New Legacy (@spacejammovie) April 3, 2021
The film’s director Malcolm D Lee told Entertainment Weekly that Lola’s character in the 1996 prequel film was “not politically correct”.
“This is a kids’ movie, why is she in a crop top? It just felt unnecessary, but at the same time there’s a long history of that in cartoons,” he said.
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“We reworked a lot of things, not only her look, like making sure she had an appropriate length on her shorts and was feminine without being objectified, but gave her a real voice. For us, it was, let’s ground her athletic prowess, her leadership skills, and make her as full a character as the others,” Lee said.
According to the synopsis, the first installment is a manic mashup of two worlds that reveals how far some parents will go to connect with their kids. When LeBron and his young son Dom are trapped in a digital space by a rogue Artificial Intelligence, LeBron must get them home safe by leading Bugs, Lola Bunny and the whole gang of notoriously undisciplined Looney Tunes to victory over the AI’s digitised champions on the court. It’s ‘Tunes versus Goons’ in the highest-stakes challenge of his life. This will redefine LeBron’s bond with his son and shine a light on the power of being oneself.
The trailer of Space Jam: A New Legacy released on Saturday.
The film will also feature actors Don Cheadle, Khris Davis, Sonequa Martin-Green, Jeff Bergman, Eric Bauza, and newcomer Cedric Joe.
Looney Tunes is an American cartoon series that features characters like Bugs Bunny, Lola Bunny, Tez, Tweety, Sylvester, Daffy Duck, and others. A spin-off of the series, Baby Looney Tunes, was aired from 2002 to 2005, from which Granny’s character will be revived in the Space Jam sequel.
Space Jam: A New Legacy is produced by Black Panther director Ryan Coogler under the banner The SpringHill Company Production and distributed by Warner Bros. Pictures.