At first, Zach Galifianakis didn’t care who he played in ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ But...
By his own admission, Zach Galifianakis didn’t put a whole lot of thought into his decision to join the cast of Disney’s live-action remake of “Lilo & Stitch” in early 2023.
“‘What are the hours?’” the actor deadpans, recalling his response to director Dean Fleischer Camp’s initial invitation.
It wasn’t that Galifianakis — the North Carolina native who gained fame from “The Hangover” movie franchise and cemented it with his “Between Two Ferns” web series — held any sort of deeply personal affection for “Lilo & Stitch.”
Truth be told, he was barely aware of the 2002 animated children’s movie, which follows the adventures of a lonely Hawaiian girl named Lilo who tries to befriend a bonkers little alien named Stitch. He was 32 years old when the original came out, still focusing largely on stand-up at the time and more than a decade away from having kids of his own. Not exactly in the target audience.
So yes, he agreed to the role of Stitch’s evil-genius-creator, Jumba Jookiba, without knowing anything about him.
In fact, at first, Galifianakis says, Camp “wanted me to play Pleakley, which is the other guy” — Jumba’s sidekick (played in the new film by UNC School of the Arts grad Billy Magnussen) — “and then two days later, he’s like, ‘Would you play Jumba?’ I’m like, ‘Dean, I don’t care. Whatever you need me to do. What, I’m gonna get into, really, one of these characters more deeply? It doesn’t matter,’” he says, chuckling.
Jokes aside, though, Galifianakis explains that he leaped without looking because he had a happy history with Camp, including the 2012 short “Smile” and the HBO series “Brody Stevens: Enjoy It!” in 2013 (both featuring Camp as editor and Galifianakis on-screen).
Camp also came with some legitimate street cred in Hollywood: His “Marcel the Shell with Shoes On” was nominated for best animated feature at the Academy Awards in 2023.
And his instincts were good ones. Galifianakis says he thinks Camp did “a really, really great job” on the new “Lilo & Stitch,” with that contention so far backed up by positive early reactions from critics.
Still, the actor has a confession to make.
Asked whether, in hindsight, he wished he’d played Pleakley, he laughs before saying, in all seriousness: “You know what? Kind of, in a weird way. The Pleakley character is a lot more outgoing, and he’s really hyper. That can be hard to play sometimes. ... But Billy does a very good job. So I think he was cast quite well.”
Unlike our conversation with Galifianakis in 2016 — when he starred in a screwball comedy based loosely on the 1997 Loomis Fargo heist in Charlotte — there wasn’t much opportunity to talk about his ties to North Carolina (born in Wilkesboro, studied at N.C. State, lived on a farm near Sparta part-time into his 40s) this time. He did say he still visits about three times a year, and “I miss that women call me ‘honey’ there. I just love that.”
Instead, in a brief interview via Zoom last week, he balanced humor and candor while dishing mainly on a number of topics related to his first Disney movie. Here are five key takeaways.
1. It’s pretty faithful to the original. “Yeah, it’s a tricky situation, I think, with a movie that already comes with a fan base, right? They’re gonna be opinionated about what they want to see. I think the movie does give a lot of respect to the first one, with a few changes that had to be done because of live-action. I think Dean and the producers, that was very important to them, to make sure they get it right, especially the artwork — you know, the CGI. And they did a magnificent job on that stuff. But, yeah, I’d heard of the movie but I didn’t know it came with such a faithful (following). People love ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ They really, really do like the movie. So I think they’re gonna be happy that this new version will give them those same warm feelings that the old one did.”
2. Galifianakis’s sons — ages 11 and 8 — weren’t previously familiar with “Lilo & Stitch” either. “My kids, they’ve seen more movies already than I’ve seen in my lifetime. There weren’t that many movies around back in the ’70s. ... Now we’re inundated with (them). I often wonder if we’re almost amusing ourselves to death in certain ways. ... But my kids, they did not know of ‘Lilo & Stitch’ either. ... They were gonna come down for the premiere, and then they changed their minds. (Laughing.) I think they might have some of their dad’s attitude about the promotion machine. It’s the uncomfortable part of this business for me. But they will see it. I live in Canada, so I’ll take ’em to a movie theater.”
3. Galifianakis and Magnussen, who have shined in funny roles in the past, were not allowed to improvise. “That movie was filmed during the strike. ... So one of the rules for the strike is you really can’t ‘help out.’ You gotta stick to the script. That was the parameters we were working with, (and) I wanted to obey those rules as much as possible. I think we got away with it. I think the script was pretty strong. But not being able to improv as much because of those restrictions ... at least for me, it was a little bit like, ‘Oh gosh, how do we navigate this?’ ... I mean, I think sometimes I maybe am hired because I can maybe improv here and there. Sometimes you don’t need to, ’cause you want to respect the script and you want to ‘do the words.’ But for a fun movie like this, it calls for it.”
4. But the fact that these were supporting roles did make it a little easier to ignore those calls. “You know, the movie is ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ We’re just supporters. So it’s whatever we can do to help the story along. The young actress in this (now-8-year-old Maia Kealoha), she’s quite charming, I have to say. They did a very good job in casting her. I mean, I lost out on the part to her, but, uh, there’s no real negative feelings. The PR people at Disney made sure that I would not have a bad attitude about it.”
5. And finally, here’s what Galifianakis has to say about remaking beloved films: “My take on it is, it’s usually a bad idea, right? It is. Because remakes can be done lazily. They can be done without the heart of the original. And if you don’t capture the heart of the original — especially in a movie like this — then you’re already lost. So it’s a risky endeavor to do a remake. Usually they don’t work out. Even a remake (of) a song usually isn’t as good as the original. So it’s a roll of the dice, especially now, when there’s so much media to criticize you about doing this stuff. ... And Hollywood seems sometimes to be out of ideas. It does. ... But I think this time they got it right. I just do. ... Otherwise, I wouldn’t have showed up for the interview.”
This story was originally published May 20, 2025 at 6:00 AM with the headline "At first, Zach Galifianakis didn’t care who he played in ‘Lilo & Stitch.’ But...."
