So if they felt like this character should do something funny with his face and that was 100% out of character, they did it. We’ve pondered that for a while, like why are so many ‘30s cartoons so creepy? And it probably has to do with the fact that the animators were free to do whatever they wanted.
There’s something creepier and more subversive about the surrealism of the sort of 1930s animation you’re channeling in Cuphead. Sleeping Beauty and all the Disney stuff scared me as a kid, but in a way that was comprehensible. Mickey Mania’s probably the only true attempt, but the technology wasn’t there, so as cool as it was, it wasn’t an exact replica of what the ‘30s had. It’s going to be amazing when someone tries to do a cartoon game like the ’30s style. So that had been in the back of our minds, and even as we saw the technology change in gaming, we thought hey, eventually people are going to be doing cartoon games.
Even in our friends group growing up, they always said “Hey, these ‘30s cartoons are kind of funny, but we like this and this.” We always stood out as the weirdos who liked watching the ‘30s cartoons.
