Trivia for
Looney Tunes: Back in Action (2003) More at IMDbPro »

• Director Joe Dante nicknamed this project the "Anti-Space Jam" movie, showing his hate for how Space Jam (1996) ruined the characters' personalities.
  
  
• The black bird statue from The Maltese Falcon (1941) can be seen on a shelf in the Warner Bros boardroom.
  
  
• This film started out as a follow-up to Space Jam (1996). It was going to be called "Spy Jam" and was going to star Jackie Chan.
  
  
• Brendan Fraser did such a good job doing an impersonation of Taz that he was allowed to do the voice.
  
  
• The following characters are at Area 52: The flying brains (from Fiend Without a Face (1958)), the Metaluna monster (from This Island Earth (1955)), a Triffid (from The Day of the Triffids (1962), Robby the Robot (from various movies), Daleks (from "Doctor Who" (1963)), Dr. Miles J. Bennell with a Pod from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956), the Robot Monster from Robot Monster (1953), Marvin the Martian, various generic aliens and The Man from Planet X (from The Man from Planet X (1951)).
  
  
• Kevin McCarthy spoofs his own role from Invasion of the Body Snatchers (1956).
  
  
• There is also a reference to Them! (1954) at Area 52. "Mother" asks if they're there about the giant ants. DJ replies, "What giant ants?" and we hear the noise that the Giant Ants make in "Them!".
  
  
• Cameo: [Matthew Lillard] in the commissary scene, talking to the animated Scooby Doo and Shaggy about his performance in the first Scooby Doo movie.
  
  
• John Cleese made a brief cameo in the film at one point during the Paris sequence, but his cameo was cut out because it didn't have anything to do with the film. Also, the reason Scooby-Doo and Shaggy make cameos in the film, even though they are not Looney Tunes, was because director Joe Dante wanted some non-WB characters in the film like Tom & Jerry, and Droopy, but WB thought that would be too weird, so they told him a Scooby-Doo cameo would seem more "appropriate". If one looks closely, the animation of Scooby and Shaggy is stiffer and more limited than that of the Looney Tunes characters, referring to the drastically cheaper budgets of the Hanna-Barbera studio at the time the original Scooby series was created.
  
  
• Elmer Fudd chases Bugs and Daffy through three of the world's most famous paintings: "A Sunday on La Grande Jatte" by Georges Seurat (displayed at The Art Institute of Chicago), "The Persistence of Memory" by Salvador Dalí (Museum of Modern Art, New York) and "The Scream" by Edvard Munch (Oslo's Munch Museum. On August 31, 2006, Norwegian police announced that the painting stolen in August 2004 had been recovered.).
  
  
• In the casino, where D.J. crashes onto the table of dogs playing poker, the dogs are the Russian dog from Hare Ribbin' (1944), Charlie Dog from a trio of Porky Pig shorts, Spike and Chester from Tree for Two (1952), the farm dog from the Foghorn Leghorn series, and the twin pit bull puppies Ham and Ex, from the early cartoon I Haven't Got a Hat (1935) (best known for the first appearance of Porky Pig).
  
  
• In the scene where Bugs Bunny and Kate Houghton are discussing bringing Daffy Duck back to work Warner Brothers, a photo of legendary animator Chuck Jones is seen above Bugs in the background.
  
  
• The sputtering car engine sound effect that Mel Blanc voiced in several Warner Brothers cartoons is heard in the background of DJ's AMC Gremlin.
  
  
• The name of the ACME Missile that Wile E. Coyote uses is called "Hi There!" - which was the name of the bomb that Slim Pickens rode to nuclear obliteration in Dr. Strangelove or: How I Learned to Stop Worrying and Love the Bomb (1964).
  
  
• You can hear the theme from the film Gremlins (1984), also directed by Joe Dante and composed by Jerry Goldsmith, when DJ and Daffy take the Gremlin car from Damien Drake's garage.
  
  
• In the spoof of the Psycho (1960) shower scene Bugs pours a can of Hershey's chocolate syrup down the shower drain, a reference to the fact that Alfred Hitchcock used Bosco's chocolate syrup in the original scene to better simulate blood in black and white.
  
  
• Porky Pig and Speedy Gonzales are seen in the restaurant discussing how political correctness has affected their careers. Both characters have come under fire for insensitivity in recent years. Porky for his stutter, and the Looney Tunes and Merrie Melodies shorts that featured Speedy Gonzales were pulled from the Cartoon Network's daytime and prime time line-ups. It was alleged that Speedy was "racially offensive" to Mexican people, a point which became moot when some representatives of the Latino community organized a movement to get Speedy back on the air.
  
  
• During filming, Brendan Fraser was completely terrified at having to hit Bill Goldberg; Goldberg constantly told him to go ahead and do it, telling him, "It's what I do for a living."
  
  
• Lola Bunny, introduced in Space Jam (1996), does not make an appearance, but can be seen on several movie posters in the background of some scenes. The existence of Lola's character, created as a "politically correct" counterpart for Bugs is spoofed when Kate suggests that what Bugs needs to "leverage his synergy" is a "hot female counterpart." (see quotes section)
  
  
• Posters for Jerry Lewis's films Which Way to the Front? (1970) and "Smorgasbord" (_Cracking Up (1983)_) can be seen in the Paris scenes.
  
  
• The character animation of the Warner Bros. cartoon characters in this film is traditionally hand-drawn. Computer technology is used to color the animation drawings in, add tone mattes/shadows to the characters, and composite them over the correct backgrounds. 3D Computer animation is used on objects such as the spaceships, Wile E. Coyote's missile, the robot guard dog at the end, and Bugs' cel-shaded carrots.
  
  
• The "supercar" featured is the TVR Tuscan. Around 1,000 are hand-built in Britain every year, and at the moment there are no plans to introduce them to the US.
  
  
• During the establishing shot of Paris that changes into color you see a bunch of little girls walking in a line behind a nun. This is a reference to the children's book "Madeline".
  
  
• Joan Cusack's character is called "Mother", a reference to the head of the spy organization on the TV series (and later feature film) "The Avengers" (1961)
  
  
• At the end of the movie, Bugs gets into a limousine and is handed carrots by numerous minor characters from past "Looney Tunes" and "Merrie Melodies". Among them are Charlie Dog, Heathcliff (from the Arthur Davis short Dough Ray Me-ow (1948)), the Squirrel (from the Chuck Jones short Much Ado About Nutting (1953)), Gruesome Gorilla (from the Robert McKimson short Gorilla My Dreams (1948)), Hippety Hopper, Marc Antony, Pussyfoot, and Egghead (the forerunning character to Elmer Fudd).
  
  
• When Bugs enters the conference room at the beginning of the movie he says "Great nose job Chuck. Good rug Mel, never would have guessed" - references to Chuck Jones and Mel Blanc.
  
  
• In the casino, while D.J. is fighting with Yosemite Sam's goons, Daffy tells him to "bite his ear!" This is a reference to boxer Mike Tyson, who bit off a portion of Evander Holyfield's ear during a match.
  
  
• When Mom pulls out the video for the Blue Monkey, the other videos are "Moon Landing Dress Rehersal", "How Sausage is Made", and "Congressmen Gone Wild, Vol. 6".
  
  
• When Daffy is given the box containing his belongings, it includes a framed picture of the real Warner brothers, Jack L. Warner and Harry M. Warner.
  
  
• While Marvin the Martian is changing channels trying to get the message from Acme, a little singing owl can be seen for a second. This is from the Warner Brothers cartoon I Love to Singa (1936) directed by Tex Avery. There is a longer version of the very same owl scene earlier in the movie as Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin) tunes in an aerial view of the gremlin on the road to Las Vegas (on the view screen in the Acme boardroom).
  
  
• Mel Blanc's "sickly car" sound effect used for the Gremlin was originally the sound of Jack Benny's 1912 Maxwell automobile on his radio show.
  
  
• The flying car in this film starts plummeting toward the ground, only to stop shortly before making contact because it ran out of gas. This is a reference to the classic wartime cartoon Falling Hare (1943), in which Bugs Bunny and the Gremlin are in a plummeting plane that stops just above the ground at the end of the cartoon for the same reason. Furthermore, one of the other cars in the film is a Gremlin.
  
  
• Many of the lines spoken by "Mom" are originally used by Willy Wonka from Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory.
  
  
• During the scene where DJ is trying to forcibly remove Daffy from the studio lot, among the various people walking around in the background are some show girls wearing costumes used in the short-lived TV series "Nikki" (2000) starring Nikki Cox. The most noticeable ones are two cockroaches and two shiny green Godzilla-like costumes.
  
  
• Jenna Elfman's character, Kate Houghton, is named after Katharine Hepburn. Houghton was Hepburn's middle name.
  
  
• When Elmer Fudd is chasing Bugs and Daffy through the museum, the music playing is from the piano suite "Pictures at an Exhibition" by Modest Mussorgsky, a cycle of piano pieces describing a walk through an art gallery (by a man with a limp) and the different paintings he stops to look at.
  
  
• WILHELM SCREAM: When Drake is fighting the interpreters in the "TV in the Painting" Scene.
  
  
• WHILHEM SCREAM: When Damian Drake throws the grenade in the picture video
  
  
• The extreme failure of this film discouraged Warner Bros. from releasing the newer Looney Tunes shorts that Warner Bros. Animation completed, and canceled those in production.
  
  
• The posters that Lola Bunny are featured in are: Hoppin' in the Rain (Singin' in the Rain (1952)), A Hare is Born (A Star Is Born (1954)), and The Bunnys of Broadway (The Barkleys of Broadway (1949).
  
  
• The last film project of Marc Lawrence.
  
  
• The last film Jerry Goldsmith would score. Due to Goldsmith's failing health, the last reel of the film was actually scored by John Debney, though Goldsmith was the only credited composer in marketing materials. Debney got a small credit at the end as "Additional music by".
  
  
• The DVD-ROM contains 10 full deleted scenes, or extended scenes. 1. An alternate opening with Daffy presenting a Batman-like project for himself to star in. 2. Daffy being thrown out of the WB studio lot along with DJ (Brendan Fraser). 3. A brief scene where DJ and Daffy are running through the Vegas streets, and Daffy momentarily gets distracted by some show girls. 4. A scene in the desert where Bugs and Daffy taunt DJ and Kate's (Jenna Elfman) predicament. 5. A much longer fight sequence in Area 52, including a long sequence where Daffy and Marvin the Martian board spaceships and battle each other through the Grand Canyon. 6. The heroes try to pass a Gauntlet of Death. Daffy is not successful. 7. Mr. Chairman (Steve Martin) punishing one of his representatives (Robert Picardo) 8. Daffy being transformed into a fly. 9. DJ tries to save Kate from Bill Goldberg on the Eiffel Tower. 10. Alternate, and slightly less climatic ending where DJ battles Mr. Chairman in the jungle ruins over the Blue Monkey diamond.
  
  
• The "Blue Monkey" appears to be a take/homage/spoof of the "Pink Panther" diamond. The Pink Panther animated series was co-created by former Looney Tunes/Merrie Melodies producer and director David DePatie and Friz Freling, respectively.
  
  
• When we first See Dusty Tails (Heather Locklear), she is wearing a Southern Belle-type dress and hat, and being lowered from the rafters on an ornate, vine-covered swing. This is a nod to a scene from Walt Disney World's "Country Bear Jamboree" attraction, where the animatronic character "Swingin' Teddie Berrah" is lowered from the ceiling wearing a similar dress and hat, on the same type of swing. Even Foghorn Leghorn's introduction for Dusty mimics the MC's intro for the Walt Disney World character.
  
  

• SPOILER: Steve Martin read the script and would only do the film on one condition, in the scene where aliens chase Daffy Duck and Bugs Bunny, a Dalek ( from "Doctor Who" (1963)) is one of the aliens used. Warner Bros. accepted
  
  

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