Like any parent of 2010s-born children, Ginnifer Goodwin has listened to “Zootopia” on loop in the background of her house ever since the animated Disney film was released in 2016. As the voice of the movie’s heroic rabbit Judy Hopps, however, Goodwin found utility in the constant replays as she geared up to reprise her role in “Zootopia 2.”
“I’ve played a lot of characters based on books and real life figures, so Judy was the first time I’d ever played a role where I was told, ‘Just show up and be you,’” Goodwin recalls. “So getting to listen to the movie over and over again, I really got a handle on who the ‘me’ version of the character is.”
The sequel reunites Judy and her fox partner-in-crime Nick Wilde (Jason Bateman) as they go rogue from the Zootopia Police Department to uncover the hidden history of the eponymous city’s marginalized reptile population. Nine years after first “Zootopia” became a billion-dollar smash, the follow-up film electrified the box office with a whopping $158 million domestically and $556 million globally, securing the second-largest Thanksgiving debut of all time.
In the wake of opening weekend, Variety caught up with Goodwin to talk about her return to Judy Hopps, the sequel’s box office success, the internet’s romantic speculations between Judy and Nick and her hopes for “Zootopia 3.”
It’s been nine years since the first “Zootopia.” How did it feel to step back into the role of Judy?
I’ve probably listened to “Zootopia” 400,000 times because my two children, who were born in 2014 and 2016, were young enough that I was able to slip this movie under their Mommy is an actress radar. They fell in love with it as its own thing. One day, I was in my car as we were preparing for “Zootopia 2” and I thought, “What would happen if I put ‘Zootopia’ on my phone and I played it through my car speakers?” I just started listening to the movie from beginning to end over and over again. I learned a lot about my character based on the takes that Disney had chosen.
Did you eventually explain to your kids that you voice the main character, or did they catch on that Judy sounds a lot like their mom?
It was a multi-tier realization. I had a friend blow it and tell them, which I did find unfair because that was supposed to be my win. However, I was shocked that my kids’ initial response was to refute it. I even overheard my kids talking to each other once, saying, “Mommy thinks she sounds like that rabbit, but she does not.” I found myself trying to prove it to them by saying the lines and squeezing the bellies of the talking toys and saying, “Don’t you hear the resemblance?” It didn’t occur to me that I had never explained animation to them, and they were still so young that they were confused. I basically blew up their reality because they thought that it was Mommy in a costume. I sort of had to define the laws of the universe for them because of “Zootopia.”
In those nine years since the first film became a hit, a second “Zootopia” seemed inevitable. Was there ever doubt that you’d return as Judy?
There’s always doubt. I never believe it until I’m in the studio recording. I did call my friends at Disney every year and ask if “Zootopia 2” was going to be my Christmas present, and then in December of 2023, they finally called and said “Christmas has come.” I was so excited and shocked that I physically fell out of a chair in my kitchen. I hit the floor, started crying, called my husband and said, “I’m going back to work.”
How did you prepare to voice Judy again?
I immediately started watching or listening to the movie again and again and again and again. I would warm up while I crossed the city to go to the studio. I loved that time in the car when I would just get her back in my head, or I’d get back in her head. I’m not sure which way it goes.
What was the recording process like? Does the cast get together and bounce off of each other?
It is the opposite. Not only do we not record together, but we don’t have any idea what our co-stars have done in the same scenes. We don’t even listen to each other’s playback, so we don’t know how anything is coming together until we see the film. However, I will say that it is a process that works. I’m not good with improv as far as words go, but I’m pretty shameless in what I am excited to explore in terms of the emotional direction a scene might go, or how stupid and embarrassing I can be.
Were there any scenes that surprised you when you saw the finished movie for the first time?
Not to be spoilery, but there is a scene that I’d call the emotional climax between Nick and Judy. My assumption, based on Jason’s work in the past, was that he was going to perform the scene in a very specific way. I thought I was probably mirroring what he was doing, because I find myself trying to sync up with my scene partners. Knowing how Jason works, though, I shouldn’t have been so sure, because he did the opposite from what I thought he would have done. If I had known what he was doing, I would have done something different. I am so relieved I didn’t know, because now I feel like the scene is perfect because I made choices based on the wrong impulses.
Even if you and Jason aren’t in the studio together, did you talk about your characters or certain scenes together?
Not at all. Before we went on the press tour, I had not seen him in two years and it was at a Knicks game in New York. We actually tried twice to record together, and we had to be separated because I can’t help but laugh with him. I find him hysterically funny, so I would blow the takes and waste everybody’s time and money because they would have us in the same space and you can’t overlap in a sound booth. They have told me that they have since built isolated chambers that can be used inside the sound booths, though. Should we make a third film, my wish can come true and we can work together. But at the same time, I feel like what Disney is able to do with us separately, I don’t understand why it works better, but it does.
There is a lot of internet speculation about the dynamic between Judy and Nick. There’s debate about whether “Zootopia 2” is a love story. No pun intended, but have you ever gone down those rabbit holes? What is your take on their relationship?
I have heard about the rabbit holes. I haven’t gone down the rabbit holes, but what I love most about Disney is that all different types of love are celebrated. Just like how “Frozen” is a celebration of sibling love, whatever people glean from “Zootopia” is valid. We made this movie for the public, so do with it what you will. As audience members, we all put ourselves in the mental spaces of the characters when we’re watching, and I embrace all of it. The only thing I will say is that Jason Bateman and I joked about what kind of creature would emerge from Judy and Nick as an offspring, and he pointed out that a fox and a bunny make a “Funny.”
Judy and Nick definitely communicate like a bickering couple in the film. Were you and Jason ever directed to play your characters like an old married couple?
We did discuss that Judy and Nick are now at a phase when you’ve just moved in together — when a relationship is still new, but you suddenly live in the same house and are figuring out what to do. I feel like without question these characters are soulmates. That didn’t even need discussing.
You mentioned that you hope there’s a third “Zootopia,” and it feels inevitable that we haven’t seen the last of Judy and Nick. What would you like to see for them in “Zootopia 3”?
There are other worlds that I would love to see explored, because it didn’t even occur to me when we were making the first one, like, “What about the semi aquatic animals?” If you stayed for the post-credit scene of “Zootopia 2,” we introduced another world with a new type of animal. I wouldn’t even pretend to be able to predict what it is that they’ll do with “Zootopia 3.”
“Zootopia 2” has been shattering box office records. Why are audiences responding to the movie?
As a parent, there are some really good family films that come out throughout the year, but I wish there were more. When I go to the theater with my kids, I sometimes take them to movies that aren’t appealing to me. Something like “Zootopia” hits on every level. I’ve seen it several times, and I think this is a film as much for adults as is for kids. It was wild sitting next to my 11-year-old at the premiere in L.A. because I would listen to the adults roar with laughter at one joke, and he would lean over and he would say, “What’s so funny?” I’d be like, “I’ll tell you later.”
