Entertainment Weekly recently released a bunch of images from Warner Bros. upcoming film Space Jam: A New Legacy and one of the characters that has received a lot of attention has been Lola Bunny. Among the points of emphasis for director Malcolm D. Lee was turning Lola into more of a strong and capable female character.
In addition to the new basketball outfit, Lola Bunny will wear on the court, which is no longer a crop top, Lola will have more of a fleshed-out background. While we don't know the exact details just yet, we do know that Lola has been hanging out with a much different crowd than the Looney Tunes.
Lee revealed that when Bugs Bunny and LeBron James seek the help of Lola to join the team, she'll be living with Wonder Woman and the Amazons.
"We wanted to meet her with the Amazons, trying to find greener pastures for herself," Lee revealed. "As she says in the movie, there's more to her than just being a Tune."
As Space Jam: A New Legacy will transport LeBron James into the Warner 3000 entertainment "Server-verse," the film will feature guest appearances from multiple characters from the Warner Bros. film catalog. In additon to the DC library, including Wonder Woman, there were hints that the movie could have references to Casablanca, The Matrix and other WB properties.
Back to Lola Bunny, though, her backstory with the Amazons is just one more step Lee took with establishing Lola as a strong and capable female character.
"Lola [Bunny] was very sexualized, like Betty Boop mixed with Jessica Rabbit," Lee said. "Lola 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."
"This is 2021. It's important to reflect the authenticity of strong, capable female characters," he explained. "She probably has the most human characteristics of the Tunes; she doesn't have a thing like a carrot or a lisp or a stutter. So 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."
Space Jam: A New Legacy is set to premiere on July 16 in theaters and on HBO Max.