It was the contrast that felt really fun.” We had been talking about Kevin Hart as the voice actor, and we sent the picture to Kevin’s people and he was excited.

Explains Renaud, “We felt it would be funnier to have a little guy with a big chip on his shoulder, so we started talking about him more as a bunny you would see on an Easter card. The core team, which includes Renaud, Meledandri and producing partner Janet Healy, co-director Yarrow Cheney (who’s working on Illumination’s upcoming How The Grinch Stole Christmas), and the writing team of Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio ( Despicable Me) and Brian Lynch ( Minions) all communicated on a regular basis.Īs is typical on an animated feature, a lot evolved along the way, including the look and personality of the film’s antagonist, Snowball the bunny, who started out big and ugly and ended up small and fuzzy. We start with storyboarding but it’s very collaborative,” says Renaud.

“The writers and vocal talent are also typically in the U.S. Renaud works at Illumination Mac Guff’s Paris animation production facility, where roughly 700 artists are based and the studio’s films are made, while Meledandri works in the studio’s Santa Monica headquarters. The making of Pets was highly collaborative in Illumination’s own unique way. The voice cast also includes the likes of Jenny Slate, Lake Bell, Dana Carvey, Hannibal Buress and Albert Brooks. This reluctant duo must team up when they find themselves on the city streets, and on the run from a cunning bunny named Snowball, voiced by Kevin Hart, who’s building an army of pets who’ve been abandoned by their owners and are out for revenge. But his pampered life is turned upside down when his owner, voiced by Ellie Kemper, brings home Duke, a large, sloppy mongrel with no interpersonal skills, who’s voiced by Eric Stonestreet. Max is convinced he sits at the center of his owner’s universe. In the end, the filmmakers decided to tell a New York-set story built around Max, a quick-witted terrier rescue, who’s voiced by Louis C.K. Director of Dark Comedy 'Apocalypse Clown' on Making a '$2M Roland Emmerich Film - With Clowns in Ireland'

Secret life of pets animated movie cast