Michael Peña Explains How Puppets Supported Actors During Filming of New "Tom & Jerry" Movie

You know Michael Peña from films like "Ant-Man," "End of Watch," "American Hustle," "The Martian" and "Fantasy Island" ... but you've never seen him in a role quite like this latest one in "Tom and Jerry." Michael, who stars alongside Chloë Grace Moretz as well as the animated Tom and Jerry characters, reveals what it was like acting in the unique live-action/animation mashup movie.

"First of all, I was a huge fan of 'Tom and Jerry.' People of my generation are definitely huge 'Tom and Jerry' fans. Me and my brother used to rush home from school to make sure that we could watch the 3:00 and the 3:30," Michael says. "I actually thought I was going to introduce my kid to 'Tom and Jerry' and I was going to say, 'I've got a treat for you,' and he immediately knew who they were. To them, it's really cool 'retro.'"

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Michael says that while he's heard stories about how films like "Jurassic Park" used tennis balls as stand-ins for the dinosaurs, his experience was much different.

"Tim Story, the director, had puppets and he had puppeteers working with us," Michael says. "It was great — we were able to actually relate and talk to, interact with the puppets. And they were so good, because these were professional puppeteers. So even if you improvised, they were able to react."