E.B.

**E.B.** is the main protagonist of the 2011 film Hop. He is the son and only child of Mr. Bunny, the grandson of an unnamed rabbit and the current Co-Easter Bunny. He is voiced by Django Marsh as a child and Russell Brand (who also played Aldous Snow and Dr. Nefario) as a young adult.

## Hop

E.B. is first seen at the start of the film as child playing bongos on top of one of the statues on Easter Island before going with his father Mr. Bunny to have a tour of The Easter Factory. Here he meets Carlos his father's second in command and Phil one of the chick workers. When E.B. expresses his concerns that he might not be able to take on the role of Easter Bunny, Mr. Bunny assures him that though it's a big responsibility, he will be ready as in a few years time, E.B. will pick up the Egg of Destiny (the magical staff of the Easter Bunny) and will have the magical powers of the Easter Bunny.

Twenty years later on the night of his coronation as the new Easter Bunny, E.B. (now a young adult) admits to his father that he wants to drum in a band and see the world rather than be The Easter Bunny. E.B. argues with his dad and he doesn't want to be the Easter Bunny. However, Mr. Bunny does not wish for 4000 years of tradition to end and tells E.B. to get his priorities straight.

Later that night, E.B. runs away from home and jumps into a magic rabbit hole that teleports him to Hollywood. Once there, he tries to get Hugh Hefner to let him stay in The Playboy Mansion, but to no avail. When crossing the road, E.B. is hit by a car driven by Fred O'Hare. E.B. was so scared at a rock. E.B's ability to talk makes Fred panic and run to the house he is house sitting, but E.B. follows him and pretends that he has a broken leg so Fred will let him stay. The next day, Fred finds that E.B. has messed up the bedroom and flooded the bathroom because he thought the bath was a jacuzzi. Fred later tries to release E.B. into the wild but changes his mind when E.B. convinces him that he is The Easter Bunny.

Whilst Fred is at an job interview E.B. waits in his car but then has to go after him when he sees The Pink Berets a trio of rabbit ninjas sent out by Mr. Bunny to find him. When in the building Fred is having his interview in E.B. plays substitute drummer for The Blind Boys Of Alabama who convince him to audition for David Hasselhoff's talent show Hoff Knows Talent and ends up ruining Fred's job interview. At the audition E.B. plays the drums to Dynamite by Taio Cruz and is able to get through to the live show. E.B. goes to Fred's adopted sister Alex's school play whilst hiding in Fred's satchel but disgusted by Alex's bad singing and thinking, E.B. was afraid of The Pink Berets (really three children in rabbit costumes) have found him E.B. gets out of the satchel and dashes onto the stage. Not wanting everyone to know of E.B.'s ability to talk Fred pretends to be a ventriloquist with E.B. as his puppet and they start singing I Want Candy. Later Fred tells E.B. his idea of wanting to be the first human Easter Bunny at first E.B. thinks it's a bad idea but after training him E.B. sees that Fred has some genuine talent in it.

The next day E.B. leaves a decoy for The Pink Berets to make them think that he killed himself (but is really a frozen turkey with his clothes on in a cooking pot) and leaves for the Hoff Knows Talent live show. The Pink Berets find the decoy and think Fred killed E.B. so they capture him and taken him to Easter Island. At the live show E.B. feels guilty of leaving Fred and discusses the situation with David Hasselhoff who advises him to go back and help Fred.

When at the house, E.B. finds evidence of Fred's capture and goes back to The Easter Factory. Once there, E.B. discovers that Carlos has taken over the factory and has locked all the rabbit workers in The Egg Painting Room and has Fred and Mr. Bunny tied in black licorice hanging over and are to be boiled alive in liquid candy. Carlos has E.B. immobilized in gummy candy and put on the chocolate bunny carving line. E.B. is able to break free and dodges the blades while Fred is able to free himself and Mr. Bunny by eating the licorice. E.B. then battles Carlos (who is now a chick-rabbit hybrid due to the magic of The Egg of Destiny but is loses easily due to Carlos being larger. Carlos then declares that Mr. Bunny was a fool into thinking that E.B. would ever amount to anything, before trying to take off in The Egg Sleigh with Phil directing via lighted wands. To stop the take off, E.B. improvises a drum session causing Phil to provide the wrong signals, causing Carlos to crash the sleigh and drop the Egg of Destiny, which E.B. claims.

E.B. reconciles with Mr. Bunny and decides to accept his responsibilities. Feeling remorseful, Mr. Bunny makes both E.B. and Fred Co-Easter Bunnies to balance the workload so E.B. can be The Easter Bunny and still follow his dream to be a drummer. E.B. and Fred then leave the factory to deliver eggs and candy.

E.B. is next seen at the end of the film picking up Fred from his home and take off in the Egg Sleigh with Carlos (still in his chick-rabbit form), Phil (now the new head chick) and the other chicks puling it to start their deliveries.

E.B. is last seen in the post credits scene watching Fred giving an Easter Basket to a Chinese woman (whom Mr. Bunny had attempted to give an Easter Basket to previously). The woman says something to Fred before going back into her house. E.B. asks Fred what the woman said, to which Fred replies in Chinese that the woman thinks that Easter is cool, but talking rabbits freak her out.

## Physical Appearance

E.B. is a rabbit with brown fur and blue eyes. He is seen throughout the film wearing a white shirt with a blue button down checkered top over it.

His Easter Bunny suit is a white collared green shirt, a red tie, a dark blue blazer, white trousers and brown shoes (exactly like Mr. Bunny's).

## Trivia

* E.B. was designed using footage of Russell Brand reading his lines. The artists incorporated his facial expressions, movements and eccentricities into the character.
* A 22-inch stuffed animal was used to give the actors a reference while they filmed scenes featuring E.B..
* Russell Brand said in an interview that he has never felt as free as he did when he was trapped in a animated body.
* To animate E.B. drumming footage of an actual drummer was sent to the animation studio.
* James Corden, Daniel Radcliffe, Matt Lucas, Eddie Izzard and David Tennant were all considered for the role of E.B.. Coincidentally, James Corden would go on to voice a rabbit (Peter Rabbit) in a live action/CGI film (Peter Rabbit).
* Many promotions for Hop address E.B. as being teenaged. However, the film shows that his appearance as a child in the prologue and his older self in the present day are 20 years apart. This would mean that older E.B. is somewhere in his early to mid twenties.
* E.B. claims that the reason he can talk is result of a combination of cuteness and magic.
* For nine months, if E.B. saw a colored egg, he felt like being sick. Due to rabbits being unable to vomit, he would end up only retching.
* E.B. is one of two characters in Hop to be portrayed by Russell Brand. The second character is the production assistant E.B. talks to at the "Hoff Knows Talent" taping.
* E.B. is the first Illumination protagonist to be an animal, followed by Max from The Secret Life of Pets and Buster Moon from Sing.
* E.B. is stated to be 24 years old as a young adult. This means that when he was first seen as a child, he was four years old.