Bill Hader, Quinta Brunson, and the creative chaos of ‘The Cat In The Hat’: Inside the making of a very different Dr. Seuss adventure

Revisiting a beloved children’s book for the big screen comes with a particular creative challenge: how do you preserve the spirit of a story that audiences already know by heart while giving it room to grow? 

For directors Alessandro Carloni and Erica Rivinoja, the answer began with a simple question about the Cat in the Hat himself. What if his visit to that rainy-day household was part of a much bigger job? 

That idea became the foundation for a new animated adventure, expanding the world of Dr. Seuss while retaining the mischievous personality that has made the character an enduring favorite.

The film brings together a lively voice cast led by Bill Hader as the Cat, alongside Quinta Brunson, Giancarlo Esposito, America Ferrera, Xochitl Gomez, Tiago Martinez, Titus Burgess, and many others. 

During a recent virtual press day, the performers and filmmakers offered a glimpse into the collaborative process behind the production, discussing everything from childhood cartoon impressions and favorite lines to the delicate balance between comedy and emotional storytelling. 

Their conversations revealed a shared appreciation for the freedom of animation, the importance of a strong script and the pleasure of making each other laugh.

YONG CHAVEZ: Bill, how would you describe your casting process for this?

BILL HADER: My friends were doing the movie, so I was very lucky that Erica and Alessandro, I’ve known them for years, so they kind of wrote it and thought about me kind of specifically. So it was basically just, “Do you, but with more energy.”

Erica, what made Bill such a natural choice for this particular character?

ERICA RIVINOJA: Well, we’ve both known Bill Hader for a long time. I wrote with him on “South Park,” and he was just the funniest person in the whole world, and he’s such a talented voice actor. He’s so good at doing impressions. He does an amazing Matt Berry impression, which we use. He does an amazing impression of Alessandro, which we used as the Cat, as the Italian chef. And he’s also just such a talented actor at those emotional moments, because there’s some really heartwarming spots and really poignant moments, and he is as good at acting as he is hilarious, and he was just such a natural choice.

Which animated characters did you imitate most growing up?

BILL: Before puberty, I could do Bart Simpson really well. And I hit puberty, and it just went away.

QUINTA: For me, it was probably because he was fun to do Johnny Bravo. It was kind of Elvis, but a little bit different, so, yeah, Johnny Bravo.

GIANCARLO: I was obsessed with Popeye. And I lift the chairs in the house and have my little corn cob pipe. 

QUINTA: Oh, I love this. 

I wondered if Cat the Hat would do a Bart Simpson, what would that be like? 

BILL: I can’t do it anymore. I wish I could, but when I was a kid, I would  break my vocal cords. That made me realize I do can’t do Bart Simpson anymore? And I was like: (in deep voice) “Because you’re a man. You’re a man.” 

QUINTA: And a woman does him also. 

BILL: And also it’s Yeardley Smith so let’s not talk about this anymore.

How did you choose what story you wanted to focus on for this particular movie?

ERICA: Well, we knew we wanted to reference the book, but the book is actually quite a short story and takes place in a very small location, over a short period of time. So, we made sure to use it in that the first couple of minutes are the book. And then we asked ourselves, okay, why did the Cat in the Hat go to that house on this rainy day? Where does he go afterwards? That’s when we landed on the idea of, oh, this is actually his job, and this red and white striped hat is his company uniform, and that really allowed us to totally expand the world.

ALESSANDRO CARLONI: Usually, the story is basically the roadmap. So we planned that from very early on. We wanted to know what our theme was, where is the heart of the movie, how do we set up our narrative. And then the joke and entertainment is how you truly feel it. It’s basically like decorating a Christmas tree. You want to cover it in entertainment and excitement and fun. And the wonderful thing is that we have such amazing comedic and funny actors. Of course, Bill Hader, Paula Pell, and Quinta Brunson, and Xochitl herself. Tiago is hilarious, too. And we, of course, wrote a lot of jokes, but the truth is that we truly relied on our brilliant cast to make those characters come to life, and we encouraged them to improvise and discover the character and discover the moment with us.

This family situation in the film of having to move and the challenges that that pose is so relatable.

AMERICA FERRERA: Yeah, I mean, I really loved that Erica and Alessandro chose to kind of flesh out the mother’s role in the whole family. She’s in the book. Her foot is in the book. I love that they chose to sort of flesh that out, expand that, and kind of give this family a whole backstory that they’re in this moment of great change. I was talking to my kids about this. Like, “We’re a team, right? We have to be a team. And change is hard, but change can be good.” And you can see that Mom is sort of trying to keep everything upbeat and keep her kids uplifted while they navigate this hard moment together, and I just think a lot of families will be able to relate to that. I know I certainly do, having been raised by a single mother. We’ve moved apartments here and there. And just having to come together as a family and navigate change is something that I think a lot of people will relate to.

Xochitl, what about that theme that we really don’t know our parents’ lives before they become our parents. What part of that was revelatory to you? 

XOCHITL GOMEZ: Well, it’s so funny. I feel like I’m not like Gabby in that sense because I cared so much about my mom’s past. I look back at it, and I did ask her to read me books, and said, “Hey, can you tell me about this?” And I’d look at photos, and I’d be like, “What? Why’d you go there? Can you tell me more about that? You had pink hair? Why did you have pink hair? And then you changed it to white. Like, why? And how?”

What did it mean to you to star in a Cat in a Hat movie? 

TIAGO MARTINEZ: Well, it was really fun to me, because since I was little, my first ever book was a Cat in the Hat book, and we would do celebrations in school and stuff, and we would do little events, and it was really cool. And I remember I got booked, and I saw the cast, and all, and I was like, “Oh, wow, I have to be professional.” And then my voiceover coach, who was the same voiceover coach for Xochitl, he called her, and we were talking, and I was like, “Wow, yeah, this is really cool.” But it was really cool to get to talk to each other for the first time, and she’s made me feel really comfortable with the role.

XOCHITL: Yeah, it was fun. I mean, I’ve always dreamt about doing an animated film, and so, for me, I was just so excited and grateful to be alongside such a wonderful cast. I didn’t get offered the role. I had to audition, but I was just even lucky to be in the room, to do that audition.

AMERICA: Yeah, I grew up loving Dr. Seuss books, including Cat in the Hat. I loved reading them out loud as a kid, and I loved reading them out loud to my kids now, who are six and eight, and the very first book I ever read to my son, my firstborn, was “Oh, the Places You’ll Go.” And so, Dr. Seuss really holds a special place in my heart, in our family, and for me personally. So it was just a thrill to be asked to be a part of such an iconic world.

Voice recording for animation often happens individually. Did you have opportunities to work together, and how did that influence the performances?

BILL: We did once.

QUINTA: Yeah, we got to voice together once.

BILL: But mostly, it’s just by yourself.

Working with the filmmakers for this, what was that like for you? 

BILL: I mean, they were great. They’re in the room with you, which I really like. They are not in a booth, kind of separated. They are right there with you, and they’re very open. They create an atmosphere where you can improvise, and you can try different reads, and you could try different things, and if it doesn’t work, you’re not worried about failing, you’re not kind of uptight. They keep it very loose.

QUINTA: I really enjoyed working with them. I thought they were so playful as directors, especially heading this really big movie, this big franchise. This is coveted and beloved IP and everything, but they just approached it like kids in the sandbox. Like, let’s just have a good time. Let’s play. Let’s make a good, fun movie in the spirit of what this movie is about.

GIANCARLO: I have fun wherever I go. No, I had a ball, specifically the early times where they were in the room with you once, and they had all these wonderful pictures and drawings laid out that were colorful, that gave me an idea what the world was, so I could quickly world build in my imagination. And then it was also, the rest of it was fun, as well. They were loving and calm and relaxed and confident about what they had created, and knowing that it was gonna be a bit different than what we all read as kids, but that it would embody that attitude. It would embody that story, but just expanded. And so kudos to them for doing such a great job.

Did you do a little bit of improv for your character? 

GIANCARLO: Everything was scripted for me. I added little, small things that I thought were natural, but very little. It was all there in the writing. I think this was so beautifully conceived. And so funny in its conception that we didn’t have, I didn’t have to do much.

QUINTA: Oh, yeah. Same. And I think, also, if you’ve got a really good animated project, you don’t want to have to improvise too much, because there are so many things happening around the words that you use, and I always try to just stick to the script to make everyone else’s job as easy as possible.

BILL: Yeah. The script was so good, you didn’t have to really do much.

Erica and Alessandro, did you have a sort of a division of labor? How did it work with a partnership like yours?

ALESSANDRO: No, I know some duo filmmakers that decide to divide and conquer. Our approach was unite and conquer. There are some things that Erica had more experience than me, some things that I am experienced in that Erica isn’t, but that is actually great to have someone with fresh eyes on something in the room. So we just made the movie together.

I love Titus Burgess in this, too.

ERICA: Oh, my God. Oh, my God. Titus Burgess. Oh, I would watch an entire movie about the Psychic Narwhal, and watching, when we were recording him singing, it gave me goosebumps. He is such an amazing performer.

ALESSANDRO: He was incredible. Incredible.

What was your favorite line of dialogue, the line that you had the most fun delivering? 

GIANCARLO: “You are fired.”

QUINTA: My favorite one was, “My father has other kids?”

BILL: Very funny line. Yeah. I know, I had too many. I have some really funny lines. I can’t remember.

QUINTA BRUNSON: Can I, for him, can I get one of my favorite moments of his? It’s his character singing his own theme song, when the Cat’s singing his theme song at the door while he’s waiting for the door to open.

BILL HADER: Oh, yeah. Kind of singing it to himself.

QUINTA BRUNSON: It really cracks me up.

Tiago, which line did you most enjoy delivering?

TIAGO: I loved delivering, “You’re a lady?”

XOCHITL: Yeah, that’s funny.

AMERICA: That was a big-laugh moment.

TIAGO: Everyone was laughing in the cinema. When we were recording it, I was reading the script, and I was laughing really hard, and I was like, “How do people come up with this?” Yeah. The writers are amazing.

XOCHITL: Alessandro and Erica are so good at what they do. I mean, they would always tell us to improvise and stuff, and sometimes it wasn’t really needed. Just their writing was so good and natural, and especially for the dynamic of the family, it was perfect.