When it was time to express their roles in DC League of Super Petsstars like Kevin Hart had to get creative.
The film was made in the early days of the coronavirus pandemic, when the rules were so strict that voice talent recorded their parts individually without the help of an on-site audio engineer to set them up. super-pets stars Dwayne Johnson as Superman’s dog, Krypto, and Hart as Batman’s dog, Ace – who must work together to save their superhero friends.
Producer Hiram Garcia recalls how talent recorded their parts via Zoom, after being given recording equipment to serve themselves. Hart stood out thanks to a sound booth he made from some mattresses and blankets in a hotel room.
“He was so smart in how he set it up, and the sound was great, but he was so hot in there. ‘Guys, I’m sweating, you guys need to hurry,’ recalls Garcia, president of production at Johnson’s banner, Seven Bucks Productions. “It was so hot in the cab. It was that kind of ingenuity, working with our engineers, doing what they could to set up the best situation to optimize the sound.”
Johnson and Seven Bucks went on board super-pets while they were in production for Johnson’s Netflix movie, Red notification. Filmmakers Jared Stern and Sam Levine knew they wanted someone big to voice Krypto, and after Johnson’s landing, the dominoes started falling in terms of assembling the rest of the team, including Kate McKinnon as the evil guinea pig Lola. and John Krasinski as Superman.
One of the big castings was chasing Keanu Reeves for the role of Batman. Seven Bucks had previously flirted with Reeves on a number of live action projects, including Fast and Furious Presents: Hobbs & Shaw. After a Zoom call, he was inside.
“He just has it. He loved the idea and understood what we wanted to do with Batman,” says Garcia.
super-pets arrives just months before Johnson’s live-action DC movie, Black Adam hits theaters on October 21. Although Hart, a frequent collaborator of Johnson, had nothing to do with that project, he still made his way to last week’s Comic-Con panel. When a kid asked Johnson if Hart was jealous of… Black Adam, the actor replied that yes, Hart was always jealous. Johnson added that he was pretty sure the kid was bigger than Hart as well.
Garcia of Hart says, “It’s such a good sport, and the guys can’t resist throwing each other under the bus no matter how far apart they are.”