November 16th, 2023 
Jackson Murphy 
Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim direct the new Netflix animated family feature Leo, starring the voice of Adam Sandler in the title role. It debuts this Tuesday November 21st. In this Animation Scoop Q&A, learn what makes Leo one of the holiday season’s must-see comedies. (This interview was edited for length and clarity.)
Jackson Murphy: Adam Sandler voices a 74 year old lizard named Leo in a Florida 5th Grade classroom. Robert, how did you want to get involved in telling this very unique story and quite a journey?
Robert Marianetti: We’ve worked with our other director, Robert Smigel on “Saturday Night Live”‘s TV Funhouse back in the late ’90s. Robert introduced us to Adam on “Hotel Transylvania 2”, where David and I were heads of story. It was a great experience working with Adam. He kept on saying, “I’m gonna do a film with you guys one day! One day!” And sure enough, that day, five years later, Adam, a man of his word, called us up and showed us this script. We fell in love with it immediately. We couldn’t keep our big mouths shut. We started giving him ideas. A nice relationship. We share similar sensibilities. We don’t try and change people’s jokes. What we try to do is elevate them. Add the animation angle to it and do something fun with it. This is our first feature. A fantastic opportunity.
JM: This is a really funny movie with a lot of smart comedic commentary on the school system. David, what kind of research did you do? Did you ask around a lot and go, “What’s going on with kids these days?”
David Wachtenheim: We’ve been in school as kids ourselves and we have kids who have been in school. Personal experiences. This was really Robert Smigel’s idea of the lizard aspect and observing the classroom for 70+ years and the kids’ struggles going from elementary school to middle school and the anxiety involved. He had kids around that age at the time he was writing it. And Adam had kids around that age too. We wanted it to relate to kids and their parents. It’s the parents’ perspective of being at parent-teacher conferences. We wanted to make it real for kids, parents and teachers.
JM: This movie has a lot of funny and heartwarming aspects. Robert, Leo is this 74 year old lizard, and he gives advice to these kids as this grandpa figure to them. Almost like a Mary Poppins figure as well. And it’s amazing what you do with that angle of this film.
RM: So right on the money. I think Adam was referring to him as that slightly eccentric uncle figure too. We grew up with “Mary Poppins” and love that film. Robert Smigel had a really great observation. When he was younger, he gravitated towards certain characters — the kids, Mary Poppins, you love the animation in the film. But as he got older, he realized, “Wait a second…” He hated Mr. Banks when he was young. But now, “I know where that guy’s coming from.” That’s how we wanted to approach the movie. The story plays for all ages. You hear directors say “8 to 80”, and in this film, that was one of Adam’s mandates. He wanted people to be able to sit down with their family — even with their grandparents — and find a kernel of similarities that everyone could relate to. I think we accomplished that. Kids with their small problems like friends not talking to them anymore to bigger ones like coming from divorced parents. And Leo is a 74 and a half year old lizard. We’re all starting to get to that age where mortality is looking at us straight in the eye… where we start thinking about our mortality.
DW: Some are closer than others.
David Wachtenheim and Robert Marianetti (left) And Jackson Murphy (right)
RM: Yes. I’m not gonna say who. It’s me. (laughs) Anyways, that’s what we were hoping for. I’m so glad you picked up on that and appreciate it like that.
JM: You’re welcome. I love that, and I love what you do with the songs. David, you’ve got a “Don’t Cry” song in here, which is hilarious. And then, you’ve got a song like “When I Was 10”, which IS going to make people cry.
DW: Yeah, those are all written by Robert Smigel, with some additional lyrics by Sandler. They’re fantastic. Speaking of “Mary Poppins”, “Don’t Cry” was specifically based on the song “Stay Awake”, where she tells them to stay awake and they fall asleep. This is kind of the same twist. It’s a comedic element. Leo’s saying it’s disgusting and horrible to cry, but we as an audience realize it’s all tongue in cheek. Really, it’s how important it is to cry. And “When I Was 10” is a beautiful song. These 10-year-old kids are reminiscing about when they were younger, which was just last year and the simplicity of their more innocent, younger selves. Life was more innocent. It’s a beautiful, heartwarming song.
RM: At a screening recently, an adult came up to me afterwards and said, “When I Was 10” made them laugh at the lyrics but they had a lump in their throat because it’s so sweet and they’re so heartfelt. It’s a really special song.
JM: It’s so on-point and honest. Bill Burr is hilarious as Squirtle the turtle. And Robert, I didn’t even recognize Cecily Strong as Ms. Malkin. She does a great job with that voice performance.
RM: We couldn’t agree more with you. Originally larger stars were being talked about — people with name recognition as far as box office. What happened is: we did a table read in Los Angeles, and through the “Saturday Night Live” connections, Robert Smigel is friends with Cecily. She came in close to the last minute as a favor to help give us a sense. We use that table read as animators to inspire the storyboard artists and design teams. Cecily came in, undid her bag, had only gotten the script a few days earlier, had notations in the script. I’m not exaggerating: the minute we heard her voice, “That’s our Ms. Malkin.” She was that fantastic.
JM: David, through this experience, this movie has a lot to say about human and animal behavior. What kind of surprised you as you were making this about human and animal behavior?
DW: We looked at a lot of lizard and turtle videos to see how they move around. It was more about getting the age sense, that these are creatures that have been around for a long time and what wisdom they can impart from living in a little terrarium for so long — and what their observations would be of the human world and how kids interact. We did some cursory reptile research, but it’s really more about human behavior of animals — instill some humanity in them. It was a lot of fun showing that juxtaposition.
JM: A lot of great layers to “Leo”. What’s the Adam Sandler character you’d love to see Leo interact with?
RM: (laughs) I think [Howard] from “Uncut Gems”.
DW: Yeah, I was gonna say!
RM: I think those two would be a great fit. Just joking.
DW: The trailer has a little “Billy Madison” reference in it.
JM: That’s a funny one. I also think because Leo’s in Florida, he’s gotta go on the golf course with Happy Gilmore.
RM: Of course!
DW: That’s right!
JM: Rest in Peace to Bob Barker. How about this Leo balloon being at the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade?!
DW: It wasn’t even on our bucket list. It wasn’t even a thought in our minds. Such an incredible thing.
RM: And more importantly, a little love and shout-out to the balloon handlers. I know two people who are gonna be handling it on Thanksgiving morning.
DW: If you see it kind of go off the track a little bit, it’s probably because…
RW: It’s his fault! It’s David’s fault!
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