The Bob's Burgers Movie is an animated, big-screen, musical comedy-mystery-adventure based on the long-running Emmy-winning series. The story begins when a ruptured water main creates an enormous sinkhole right in front of Bob's Burgers, blocking the entrance indefinitely and ruining the Belcher family's plans for a successful summer.
While Bob and Linda struggle to keep the business afloat, the kids try to solve a mystery that could save their family's restaurant. As the dangers mount, these underdogs help each other find hope and fight to get back behind the counter, where they belong.
The movie arrives in cinemas on Friday, May 27, and we got to sit down for a conversation with stars Dan Mintz and Eugene Mirman to discuss their respective roles as Tina and Gene. The Belcher family's eldest and middle child can always be relied on to deliver some big laughs, and they both provided some fascinating insights into where we find their characters in this adventure.
From Tina's love life to some of the wackier things Gene says, the actors also weigh in on The Bob's Burgers Movie's wild fantasy scenes and reveal whether a real sibling rivalry has developed behind the scenes. Seeing as they once again get to sing in this project, we also hear from Dan and Eugene on potentially taking centre stage in a Bob's Burgers musical at some point!
Dan, Tina's quest for a boyfriend is taken to another level here – what did you most enjoy about exploring her burgeoning love life in the film?
Dan: It is interesting. Tina has a lot of love dilemma stories and her conflict here is whether she wants Jimmy Jr. to be her summer boyfriend or not. What was interesting about that, to me, is there is never any question of whether he'd say yes if she asked her. She just assumes he will. She now has the confidence to feel she can get what she wants, but now has to ask herself, 'How do I even know what I want?
Eugene, you always get to deliver some of the funniest, weirdest lines as Gene; do you get to do a lot of improv in the recording booth and are there any particularly memorable lines that wound up being cut?
Eugene: So, yes, I do love that. There are memorable lines that got cut and memorable ones that got left in. In the second episode of Bob's Burgers, Gene and Bob have a debate where Gene insists Salman Rushdie wrote The Lion, The Witch, and The Wardrobe. Bob doesn't believe him and they go back and forth. There's also an episode where they animated it, but it didn't end up getting used, where all the kids are sitting around talking about why they love visiting their grandparents. Gene says he loves visiting them because they let him eat as much TYLENOL PM as he wants [Laughs]. They animated it and were then like, 'You know what, maybe we don't want an eleven-year-old saying he takes a sleeping pain medication in unlimited quantities.' It was really fun to see this little moment come so close, but we record together where we can hear each other even if we're in different places and we get to do things as written but also try different stuff and jokes if we think of them. That's one of the great things about voiceover is you can try new stuff.
The songs in this film are fantastic – how much input did you both have in those and would you be on board with tackling a Bob's Burgers: The Musical down the line?
Dan: Would a musical be us actually wearing costumes as our characters and singing on stage? That would be pretty cool. I'm not sure I have the singing and vocal skills to be able to pull that off. Maybe if I start taking classes right now? [Laughs]
Eugene: Yeah, I think that I wouldn't be able to do that [Laughs]. In terms of these songs, they wrote them, and we didn't have much input beyond singing them and getting their help with the performance. They'd feed us the lines and we'd do them, but with voiceover, you can try as many times as you like to get what's needed. If there is a Bob's Burgers: The Musical on Broadway, I couldn't do the singing. I could maybe do the lines and someone else would have to come in and do the songs. We'd need two Genes. A twin Gene.
Dan: [Laughs]
There are some great dream sequences for your characters in the film; in terms of your performances, is it freeing to be able to take Gene and Louise to some sillier places like that?
Eugene: I don't know if I'd say it's freeing, but it's very fun. They have all those episodes where there are these takes on movies. The thing that's the most fun is that Bob's Burgers is so grounded in this very real reality. Then, we can go to fun places where you can all of sudden be in this other world that is clearly a fantasy.
Dan: Also, it's interesting because when you're recording your lines just based on a script, you have no idea what fantasy world they're actually going to animate. It's like choosing a restaurant; you can't always picture the food. It's always great to see the finished product and go, 'Oh! That's what I was talking about!'
Eugene: Yeah, and we don't see it until a year later when it's on TV and it airs.
Finally, it's always fun to see the Belcher kids interact, but have you guys and Kristen developed something of a sibling rivalry behind the scenes too, particularly when it comes to who gets the best gags?
Dan: We all live in different places, but Kristen and I are the ones that live in LA. I don't know if we argue over getting the best gags, but there's always an argument about who gets the better microphone in the recording studio [Laughs].
Eugene: I'm recording from home, but it's more of a sibling camaraderie than anything else. That's how it feels from a different city on headphones, anyway!
The Bob's Burgers Movie arrives exclusively in cinemas on May 27!