‘The Cat in the Hat’: Writer-directors Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja on Dr. Seuss’s legacy of lunacy

Dr. Seuss, the nom de plume behind which American author and illustrator Theodor Seuss Geisel unleashed his menagerie of linguistic oddities and peculiar flights of fancy, has furnished Hollywood with a colourful assortment of animated properties, including Horton Hears a Who!, The Lorax and The Grinch. Now, Warner Bros. Pictures Animation is having another go at The Cat in the Hat, bringing Seuss’s top-hatted purveyor of chaos back to the screen for another round of feline fun. 

Helming the film are Alessandro Carloni, whose credits include Kung Fu Panda 3 (2016), and Erica Rivinoja, whose writing résumé spans Cloudy with a Chance of Meatballs 2 (2013), The Addams Family (2019), and the Academy Award-nominated Borat Subsequent Moviefilm (2020). Their take on Seuss’s iconic anarchist introduces the Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration, LLC (IIII), which dispatches the Cat to help siblings Gabby and Sebastian navigate the upheaval of moving to a new town. I spoke with Alessandro and Erica about turning a slim children’s book into a feature-length adventure.

First introduced in 1957, the towering, bow-tied feline’s striped headgear and rubber-limbed physicality made him one of children’s literature’s most recognisable troublemakers. His characteristically cartoon gag physics places him among the company of ‘Toon Force’ characters like Bugs Bunny, The Mask, Popeye the Sailor Man, and One Piece’s Monkey D. Luffy. But Alessandro and Erica seemed more interested in what actually drives the Cat.

“The one that we always cite is Will Ferrell in Elf,” Erica says, explaining that Buddy Hobb’s apparent naivety concealed his sincerity. “There’s something really fun about that,” she adds, pointing to his unfiltered enthusiasm and excitement. She also cites Melissa McCarthy’s physical comedy, while Alessandro acknowledges the resemblance to Bugs Bunny, with a caveat: “Bugs Bunny is definitely smarter and a little more cynical than the Cat.”

Alessandro expands on why Ferrell’s Buddy was such a useful reference. “There are very far and few characters out there where their sincerity and humbleness in public is exactly who they are in private,” he explains. He also mentions Dory from Finding Nemo, before arriving at the essential quality they wanted their Cat to possess: “He’s an agent of chaos, and he makes a big mess, but he does it with sheer sincerity of a love for what he does.”

Seuss’s alchemy of unorthodox rhyme schemes and invented words makes his books deceptively difficult to spin a script out of, with much of their magic residing in how they sound and look rather than how little actually happens. Still, Erica found a fix: “I really didn’t want to have to write an entire movie in rhyme. That seemed way too daunting,” she admits. “The fact that the official IIII business language is in rhyme was a fun way to pay homage to Dr. Seuss without actually having to have an entire movie written in rhyme scheme,” Alessandro reveals. Earlier drafts contained considerably more verse, including passages written in Seuss’s preferred anapestic tetrameter. As production progressed, however, they repeatedly removed exposition since the animation could communicate the same information without spelling everything out.

Asked whether the original book was harder to adapt because of its brevity, Erica says, “If you read the book, it’s pretty limited action and very small. He just shows up at the children’s home on a rainy day, causes a mess and then leaves. But we used that to ask, ‘where does he go after this day?’ And that is what led us to the IIII”. 

Alessandro identified another question embedded in the original story that became central to their interpretation of the Cat. “The kids almost look more confident by the end, while at the beginning they’re a little timid and insecure. Could it be that The Cat is actually the greatest child psychologist ever? Someone who’s able to give a kid exactly what they need and just disguise it and define their rule-breaking?” He explains how the question provided the story with an emotional purpose. “The journey is not just one of sheer fun (which hopefully it also is), but you discover that the Cat knew exactly what he needed to do to help the children at the moment of need in their lives. He’s an emotional support animal.”

Any new adaptation must also contend with the infamous cultural afterlife of Bo Welch’s 2003 live-action The Cat in the Hat, starring Mike Myers, Dakota Fanning and Spencer Breslin. Anyone unfortunate enough to have endured that bizarre hallucination masquerading as a children’s film will likely attest that its singularly disconcerting brand of surrealism left behind childhood memories that are difficult to explain without sounding like you feverishly dreamt the whole thing. I was curious whether that film became a conscious reference point. “There was so much fun, weird, cool stuff in that movie, but ours is just so different, and we just wanted to do something entirely different and unique; something that was very much us”, Erica says.

Even though Myers’ creepy Cat and Jim Carrey’s manic Grinch left behind performances difficult to disentangle from the characters themselves, this time, the striped hat goes to Bill Hader, whose protean comic instincts, gift for impressions, and delightful turns across Saturday Night Live and Barry make him an intriguing choice to inherit the feline’s legacy of lunacy.

Erica had previously worked with him on South Park, while Alessandro had also collaborated with him, so neither was casting blind. “We knew that he was very funny and such a talented voice actor. He can do so many voices and crazy impressions, but he’s also a really great actor capable of hitting those emotional moments.” The latter was crucial. “There’s moments in our movie which are very heartfelt, and we knew that we wanted the funniest person ever, but who could also really make those moments with those kids land,” she explains. “Bill just seemed like the natural choice. And we really like him and love hanging out with him.” 

For all the creative latitude afforded by Seuss’s worlds, their lasting appeal comes down to something more elusive, and the filmmakers have their own ideas about why these strange little books continue to invite such outsized cinematic reinvention. “I think it’s fascinating how if you think about it, Dr. Seuss doesn’t really create stories. He creates moments. He creates vibes. He creates emotions,” Alessandro explains. “There’s something so magical about reading a book as a child that makes you feel special about just one small feeling. And outside of his skills as a draftsperson and a poet, that is what is eternal about Dr. Seuss.”

The Cat in the Hat releases in Indian theatres on November 6