Hey Good Lookin' (film) - Production

Production

After production concluded on Harlem Nights, Bakshi wanted to distinguish himself artistically by producing a film in which live action and animated characters would interact. Bakshi began writing the screenplay for Hey Good Lookin' while editing Coonskin, and storyboarding a proposed series for ABC. The characters of Vinnie and Crazy Shapiro were based upon Bakshi's high school friends, Norman Darrer and Allen Schechterman. Warner Bros. had previously agreed to distribute Fritz the Cat before pulling their funding from that film, but were eager to option the screenplay for Hey Good Lookin', and greenlit the film in 1973. Several African American animators, including graffiti artists, were hired by Bakshi's studio, at a time when black animators were not widely employed by major animation studios. Following controversy over the film Coonskin, some black animators left Bakshi's studio in embarrassment, resulting in production problems for Hey Good Lookin'.

Principal photography began in 1974. The budget was $1.5 million. Pre-production lasted one week, including casting. Grittier sequences were shot on the streets of New York City, while less serious locations were shot on Warner Bros.' sound stages in Los Angeles. According to Bakshi, "What I would do is dress guys up, live-action guys. Very strange dudes! The weirdest guys I could find. Having them talk to animated characters in front of candy stores, discussing girlfriends and such. It was very surrealistic." Yaphet Kotto and the glam punk band New York Dolls were cast in the live action sequences, with the New York Dolls playing homosexuals. Mean Streets actors Richard Romanus and David Proval were cast as the voices of Vinnie and Crazy Shapiro. Much of the shooting of live action sequences and recording of animated dialogue involved improvisation, with Bakshi setting up the premise of the scene and allowing his actors to create their own dialogue. During the "rumble" sequence, the actors playing the Chaplains were filmed popping and performing styles of dance which later evolved into breakdancing, dance styles which were unheard of in the 1970s studio system.

Bakshi had selected a number of songs from his own record collection for the film's soundtrack, which were not used in the film due to the high costs of licensing the songs. The film was initially scored by singer Dan Hicks, who became involved with the production of the film in 1974. Because the release of the delay of the film's release, Hicks' label released the material from these sessions under the title It Happened One Bite. When the film was released in 1982, it had been rescored by John Madara. A soundtrack album was released in 2006.

Much of the cinematography was shot at night, because Bakshi felt that the daylight made the scenes less believable. Bakshi recounts that during the first day of shooting, the actors were unable to play their roles naturally, but began casually talking and acting the way he wanted their characters to act when the cameras were off, including flirting with an actress. However, the camera man was not around to capture these events, so Bakshi filmed them himself. When Bakshi excitedly told William A. Fraker about this, Fraker quit the production, and was replaced by a young cinematographer who had never worked in film before.