‘Zootopia 2’ Directors on Paying Homage to ‘The Shining’ and Why They Scaled Back the ‘Silence of the Lambs’ Nod

SPOILER ALERT: This story discusses major plot points, including the ending and the post-credits scenes, for “Zootopia 2,” currently playing in theaters.

“Zootopia’s” rookie cops Judy Hopps (voiced by Ginnifer Goodwin) and Nick Wilde (voiced by Jason Bateman) are back.

In the film’s sequel, “Zootopia 2,” the duo come face-to-face with a mysterious pit viper, Gary De’Snake (voiced by Ke Huy Quan). As they try to solve the mystery of Gary De’Snake, they’re led on an investigation to uncover a hidden reptile population.

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The premise of the film gave co-directors Jared Bush and Byron Howard a perfect opportunity to pay homage to great horror classics, including “The Shining” and “The Silence of the Lambs.”

Speaking with Variety, Bush and Howard confessed their adoration for Stanley Kubrick’s 1980 film. The plot of “Zootopia 2” gave them room to flesh out an idea.

In the film, the Lynxley family — a group of lynxes, natch, include Milton Lynxley (voiced by David Strathairn), the wealthy family patriarch, who, along with his family, Cattrick (Macaulay Culkin), Kitty (Brenda Song) and Pawbert (Andy Samberg), try to keep the truth about the city’s history from coming out.

Bush says, “We had this idea of these lynxes that were obviously the villains, and it made sense to have this grand manor, and then this giant maze in the back of it.”

“The Shining” idea came in a very early draft. As much as they loved the idea, neither thought about how hard it would be for their animators and VFX team to pull off. The animators didn’t just have to build a maze with millions of leaves, it would have to be covered in snow. Taking the idea a step further, Bush says, “Then we said, ‘Instead of Nick and Judy running through it, what’s happened is we’re going to take a giant Snowcat and smash the crap out of it.’”

All those steps gave the visual effects team a challenge. “They have to rig [the animation] to be destroyed,” says Bush. “It’s not like you can destroy anything you like. All of the destruction also has to be built into the design and figure out the exact path of that Snowcat.”

Pay close attention to the end credits — the animators who worked on the Snowcat vehicle destroying the maze are given full credit as “Destruction Leads.” Aside from creating the maze and covering it in snow, Pawbert limps his way through the maze, very much in homage to Jack Nicholson’s character.

“Pawbert had to be animated moving through the space,” Bush says.

Different animators had been locked in months in advance, each with the task of working on their respective shots. However, Disney animator Louaye Moulayess was a die-hard fan of the film. On the day that sequence was being assigned out, Moulayess showed up to the animation offices wearing a t-shirt from “The Shining.” He made a plea and said, “You must give me this shot.”

Moulayess’ plea was successful. He was given the task of animating Pawbert in the maze. “He disappeared and came back a week later, which is just unhinged Pawbert as Jack Nicholson, and just incredible,” says Bush.

The first time the duo saw the finished scene was during the lighting review.

Howard says, “It’s where you got all the effects, animation, grooming, wind and fur. You see the incredible light and shot from behind when he’s limping through the maze, and you see the snow falling. We were just cracking up. It’s amazing.”

The icing on the cake was composer Michael Giacchino’s score. Bush says, “He took that theme which is so famous, and the second you hear it, you know exactly where you’re at. Marry that with his incredible score and his Lynxley villain theme…when we were on the scoring stage for that, the lower brass asked, ‘How hard do you want us to hit this?’ And he was like, ‘Everything you got.’”

While the scene will likely fly over any child’s head, Howard says they had to keep their core audience in mind. “They’ll think, ‘That guy is unhinged, and he’s the bad guy, and I want our heroes to get him, and that’s all you need.” And if they find that confusing, “There’s a 5,000-pound Snowcat about to plow through that maze that will bring the clarity back to the kids.”

“The Shining” isn’t the only nod Bush and Howard make to classic horror films.

When Nick is briefly in jail, the duo didn’t skip the opportunity to pay homage to Jonathan Demme’s “The Silence of the Lambs.” Bellwether is in one of the cells, and her scene is reminscent of Anthony Hopkins’ Hannibal Lecter.

However, the pair did know when they had to pull back. “That scene used to be four minutes long,” says Bush. “We did word by word the first scene when Hannibal Lecter meets Clarice, all the way down to the guard saying, ‘All the way down the left, stay to the right.'” But they realized it was too much. “That’s where we go, and now we have lost our younger audience members.”