A Story From the Heart: An Interview with Netflix’s ‘Leo’ Co-Directors Robert Marianetti and David Wachtenheim

Actor and comedian Adam Sandler (Hotel Transylvania, The Wedding Singer) delivers signature laughs in this coming-of-age animated musical comedy about the last year of elementary school – as seen through the eyes of a class pet. Jaded 74-year-old lizard Leo (Sandler) has been stuck in the same Florida classroom for decades with his terrarium-mate turtle (Bill Burr). When he learns he only has one year left to live, he plans to escape to experience life on the outside but instead gets caught up in the problems of his anxious students — including an impossibly mean substitute teacher. It ends up being the strangest but most rewarding bucket list ever…

Who would've thought the guys who brought us some of our favorite episodes from SNL's TV Funhouse paired with the comedy writing team that is Adam Sandler and Robert Smigel would bring us one of this decade's funniest and heartwarming family films? Well, be ready to have your heartstrings pulled with their latest Netflix film, Leo. You get it all, from a talking lizard to Busby Berkeley showstoppers to a universal message.  

This interview has been edited for content and clarity.

Sadie Dean: How did this project come to you guys, and what was the process of all directors, including Robert Smigel, to divide and conquer?

David Wachtenheim: We had worked with Roberts Smigel for many years on SNL TV Funhouse cartoons. And that's how we developed our relationship with him. And over the years, we'd do little projects here and there. So, we've been in touch all this time, even after SNL. And we got involved with Hotel Transylvania 2, that Adam [Sandler] and Robert were working on. We were giving some script ideas to Robert, and he shared them with Adam, and Adam really liked what we had to offer and wanted us to be part of it. So, we came on as heads of story and started a relationship with Adam, who really appreciated our contribution and wanted to work with us on something else.

And so, over the next few years, we got a couple of scripts to look at. And then we had one script that was the precursor to Leo, that Robert Smigel got involved in and decided to make it. It was just about a public school fifth-grade class, about the kids and Smigel had the idea to make it about a class pet, who's observing the classroom and is approaching the end of his life and wants to do something more with his life. And he did the first draft, which eventually became Leo. And so, we were involved from the beginning, kind of offering our ideas and little notes on the script here and there. And we kind of just organically came along with the script. I mean, they interviewed a few other directors, but because of our history, it just made sense to work with us and our sensibilities with Robert Smigel are very similar. And there was a trust factor involved. That was very important.

Sadie: I can definitely see your background with SNL’s TV Funhouse coming to play here. In terms of when and where to amplify a joke, and timing, especially with the cast that you have and comedians like Bill Burr and Adam Sandler – what were you doing in just making sure that the jokes stay tonally consistent to what you guys are trying to put out there in this story but also a very specific audience you’re wanting to capture?

Robert Marianetti: Great question, Sadie. What was interesting is, it was a real tight script from the very beginning when we got it from Robert and Adam. And the process in animation is a little bit different than it is in live-action television and features. In animation, a lot of times, studios love to keep on changing things, making sure it plays to the specific audience, more tweaking and fine-tuning. Like I said, the script was tight from the very beginning, Robert and Adam did an amazing job. And it was a joy to work with. We did a table read and that script, it stayed pretty much the same. We made changes in the third act, of course, and along the way, and along the journey concentrating on things.

But one of the great things about animation is the storyboard artists, the story department. We had a great head of story Ken Morrissey, working with us who came from DreamWorks. And we had a really diverse group of young and more veteran talent in the story department. And what the story department does and what David and I were trying to do also from the very beginning, is elevate the jokes, add visual gags, add visual references - a lot of visual gags. Don't get me wrong, Adam and Robert were just as equally throwing stuff our way. So, it was a really great organic process. The people we brought on from the animation side, really loved the script. And it was a really, really nice fit.

David: And what's so great about this versus our Saturday Night Live stuff is that this is really for the whole family. The SNL stuff when our kids were younger, we couldn't even show them a lot of the stuff that we did, it was I was like, ‘I'd love to show my kids what I'm working on,’ but it wasn't appropriate. But this was such a great opportunity to really do something for the whole family, for kids and stuff for adults that adults will appreciate…but it's just something that adults can understand that kids can't relate to. And it just works on so many levels. It was such a pleasure to just be able to do something for the whole family.

Sadie: In terms of the animation style, to character vignettes and their musical numbers, what was the process behind choosing a style and running with it? And again, that tonal consistency, the rhythm and pacing of the story – there’s never a moment where it lags.

David: Well, the timing of it all…really it's Adam and Robert and the TV timing and the comedy, it was constantly like, ‘Let's trim it, let's trim, it let's make it funnier and quicker,’ just making it tighter and tighter, not to have any lows in there. The visual stuff, we definitely wanted it to look like a big expensive Disney Pixar type of movie. But we knew when we pitched ourselves as directors, one of the things that we wanted to bring about was that to do that, we wanted to have it very grounded in reality as far as the acting of the kids and the subtlety and make them feel like real kids and a real world even though it's all cartoon.

We thought that the opportunity with the songs would give us an opportunity to maybe break out of that style a little bit, do a little bit of different types of technique and animation to kind of break out a little bit and explore that, just playing with different styles. Because, all our 2D stuff and TV was something that we're just so used to, so incorporating some 2D stuff was part of the fun too. And just to make that aspect, a little bit more fantastical that all of a sudden there's songs and now we're in a different world or we're in somebody's head, singing the song and the dad singing and the house falling apart and it becomes a big Busby Berkeley musical now... it's just very natural and everything just fits into this world.

Robert: Just to add on to that, watch the end credits too, because David and I, our company, we've had a company here in New York for years, we did the end credits, people have been telling us that reminds them of the TV Funhouse. We highlight different bits and gags from the movie in the end - it's sort of a little tribute to TV Funhouse and 2D animation also.

Sadie: There's a great moment and line of dialogue at the end of movie from Leo when he says, “Find someone to talk to you, life is hard.” That perfectly encapsulates the message of this movie. What was your North Star?

Robert: The North Star was Adam. His mandate from the very beginning, give me a story that everyone in the family can watch together. Not just moms, dads and their kids, but everybody, Grandpa, Grandma, the whole family could watch. And also, let's tell it from the heart. And so, we have all that craziness in there. But again, Adam, he really wanted a story from the heart. Leo is like that eccentric, slightly odd Uncle, you know, he comes from a good place, but it might not be quite right. There's a lot of that going on in the story. But ultimately, you mentioned the ending, the message is right there. Also, the age factor, kids have their problems, adults have a whole different set of problems. But also, the two coming together, kids listening to adults, and adults willing to bend and really listen to what the kids are trying to tell them. I think those were our North Stars. We really wanted to capture that type of thing.

David: I think also, again, Adam has kids that age, Robert Smigels’ kids are that age, our kids are a little bit older. But I think this really was all about doing this for our kids, in a sense. Again, we've worked so much in adult animation that this was a real good opportunity, not just do a movie that kids will enjoy, but really something for the kids, about kids, and really just something very heartfelt for kids to relate to and try to help kids in a sense where like, yeah, you got big problems right now, they're really not that big in the scheme of things. I mean, some of them are bigger than others. But here's a nice little film that hopefully you can learn from. Ask for help if you have any problems, if there's ever something you need to talk to somebody about don't be afraid. And to say hey, there are adults out there who maybe know more and have more wisdom than you might think or give them credit for. Adults are here to help you and not just be in your way.

Leo releases on Netflix on November 21, 2023.