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Exploding Kittens Stars Ellis & Zamata Discuss Netflix Animated Comedy

Tom Ellis (Lucifer) & Sasheer Zamata (Moon Girl & Devil Dinosaur) spoke with Bleeding Cool about their Netflix animated comedy series Exploding Kittens.

As omnipotent as God and the Devil can be, it turns out that sometimes being knocked down a peg can provide a golden opportunity for comedy, especially when both are turned into cats with diminished abilities in the Netflix animated comedy series Exploding Kittens. Based on the popular The Oatmeal webcomic and card game of the same name created by Elan Lee, Shane Small, and Matthew Inman, the series was adapted to TV by showrunners Inman and Shane Kosakowski (The Muppets, You're the Worst). The premise of the Netflix series is "When an eternal conflict reaches epic proportions when God and the Devil both are sent to Earth… in the bodies of chunky house cats!" The white Godcat, played by Tom Ellis (Lucifer), is distinguishable by his fluffy tail and human white beard, and the black Devilcat, played by Sasheer Zamata (Marvel's Moon Girl and Devil Dinosaur), has pointed ears in the shape of horns and pointed devil tail. Ellis and Zamata spoke to Bleeding Cool about the character inspirations, how the comedy series appealed to them, and what the animated series allowed them to do that they wouldn't normally do.

Exploding Kittens: Tom Ellis & Sasheer Zamata on Exploring the Zaniness of Godcat and Devilcat

Bleeding Cool: What inspiration do you take into your performances as Godcat and Devilcat?

Ellis: When I was offered the role of Godcat, I worked with a famous British actor, Charles Dance, who is an incredibly intimidating presence and an equally grand and intimidating voice, but a massive teddy bear underneath. I hate to break that news about Charles, but it's true. I inadvertently developed an impression of him through my time working with him. This Godcat job came in, and I thought, "Hold on a minute. My impression of Charles works nicely for Godcat." That was a starting point for me, a bit of an accident.

Zamata: What I like about Devilcat is she is supposed to be evil, trying to be the boss of hell, but struggling. I took that idea of someone who struggles and wants to be better at what they want to be good at trying to embody that into Devilcat. I didn't think about the cat or devil aspect [laughs] of it and tried to find a character who desperately wants to be better, and hopefully, that comes through.

What resonated about the humor from Matthew and Shane for 'Exploding Kittens?'

Ellis: I got the script and thought, "This is funny!" They write brilliant one-liners. They're fantastic joke writers. It sets up, sets up, sets up, gag, that is a huge appeal. I've got to do bits and pieces of comedy in the past and have never always been a funny person. You need a straight person and a funny person for it to work. I got lots of funny lines in it, and I was like, "Okay, this is an opportunity to exercise my comedy muscles." That's what drew me to it.

Zamata: There are so many jokes packed into every script, and it's a rare thing to be a part of something where you're like, "Most of these [lines] are jokes, and most of my lines are jokes." The story is still there, but it's not just surface-level jokes. There's so much happening underneath the surface as well as being funny, and that's a fun project to be a part of.

Do you have a favorite scene between your characters or among the Higgins?

Zamata: I liked it when we watched a marathon of Bruce Willis movies [both laugh], which was cute.

Ellis: That was fun. There are some scenes later as we grow closer together. I don't want to spoil it, but I enjoyed doing those. It sets up as an extreme relationship, and then there are moments of real vulnerability between us, which I don't think we expected when we first got the groups. That was quite fun to do.

What does a series like 'Exploding Kittens' allow you to do as actors that you wouldn't normally do? Tom, you've already touched upon it before with the comedy, but was there anything else from the role?

Zamata: I've done other animation before, but [Devilcat] is the most dynamic character. I've had to scream, yell, be wild and growl. It's the most fun I've had in the booth before because I haven't been asked to do something like that before.

Ellis: The process of doing this is a bit different. You go into a booth alone and do your lines in the scene. It started feeling like quite a lonely experience but became a liberating one. You find yourself being experimental, trying various things, and not caring how you come across or look. A lot of the time, as an actor, that's always in the back of your mind. To take that vanity aspect away from it, let loose, [creating] quick fire improvisational noises, and encouraged to be as big and silly as possible. That was a hugely gratifying experience.

Exploding Kittens, which also features the voices of Ally Maki (Hit-Monkey), Mark Proksch (What We Do in the Shadows), Suzy Nakamura (Avenue 5), and Kenny Yates (ReBroken), is available on Netflix.

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