'Hoppers' director Daniel Chong calls comedy 'the No. 1 thing' in casting

Daniel Chong said comedy drove casting for Pixar’s animated film "Hoppers," which features Meryl Streep, Jon Hamm and Dave Franco, at Deadline’s Contenders Film Los Angeles.

"Comedy was the No. 1 thing we wanted as casting," the director said on a panel with producer Nicole Paradis Grindle and voice actor Piper Curda, Deadline reported.

Chong wanted funny performers regardless of their backgrounds, and Bobby Moynihan also joined the voice cast.

Hamm plays a mayor approving the razing of a glade. Chong said "[Hamm's] post-Mad Men career has been a lot of comedy."

"That guy is not afraid to look stupid," Chong said of Hamm. "We definitely put him through it in the movie."

Streep, who plays the insect queen, brought an unusual voice to her recording session, Chong said.

"Meryl was also down for jokes. She came in with that really weird voice. She came in hot with that voice and we were like okay, here we go," he said.

Franco plays the son of Streep’s character, and Chong described the demands of his performance in the recording booth. "With Dave, we also put him through the ringer because that is a very high octane performance," Chong said.

"He has to go to 11 every line," Chong said of Franco. "He was sweating after every take."

Curda’s Mabel is a young environmentalist who controls a robot beaver through Hopper technology, then rallies animals in that form to save the glade.

Chong discovered Curda was a TikToker, though she told the panel she hadn’t begun posting videos to land a role.

"That's not why I made TikTok," Curda said. "I was bored. Now I'm here."

Curda described Mabel as both openly passionate and confident. "What's so cool about Mabel is she's not shy about really caring and also at the same time, she's incredibly cool," she said.

"You can care a lot about something maybe most people don't care about and still be awesome," Curda said of the lesson young viewers could take from Mabel. "I think it's really cool to care."

Grindle said the film has a message and that comedy helps deliver it, according to Deadline. Quoting another Disney classic, she said, "A spoonful of sugar makes the medicine go down."

"We're all about the sugar. It's more meaningful when it's rooted in something deeper," Grindle said.

"You need to have that kind of emotional catharsis to come out of the movie," she said.

Deadline said it would make video of the full "Hoppers" panel available Monday.