FILM INTERVIEW: CAST OF 'DR. SEUSS' THE LORAX'

Danny DeVito

Roxanna Bina: What is the world of Dr. Seuss about for you, and in particular The Lorax?

Danny DeVito: Dr. Seuss is a wonderful storyteller – inventive, sometimes magical, practical, and in The Lorax, he’s created a world that mirrors our world, and he shows how we need someone out there, in the population, to take the lead in saving the place that we live. He’s certainly not saying we shouldn’t be inventive and we shouldn’t use trees for things, but we shouldn’t take everything away from the Earth and not replenish it. So our story is, I think, eternal in that, and hopefully it will be eternal because we’ll wise up and start taking care of where we live.

RB: Would you consider yourself a green type of person?

DDV: Oh yeah. I’m very green. I’m a green, liberal person. Very all about people. I really respect folks and I respect the place we live… In my house, we don’t use plastic bottles. We have no paper towels; we use cloth and wash them, and that’s that. And I drive a Leaf, which is a totally electric car, and no emissions. We have to do this. We have to show the people the way in a gentle way, without forcing it down their throat.

RB: What types of challenges did you face, shooting this film?

DDV: Just getting up in the morning is always a challenge for me. I like to sleep late. I like to stay up late, I like to sleep late, and one of the challenges was we were doing this movie in France, so the animators were all in France. So I would have to get up or keep them up. So they used to always say to me, “Danny, get there at 9:00.” I go, “There’s no way I’m gonna get there at 9:00. I can’t get out of the house by 9:00.” I’d tell them, “Go out to dinner in France, in Paris, have a nice dinner, have a cocktail or an aperitif or whatever, and then go into the studio and I’ll be there at 10:00.” So what is it, nine hours, ten hours?

RB: Speaking of France, what did you think of the French movie, The Artist?

DDV: Oh, it’s good. I like the movie The Artist. I’ve got a question for you. What’s his name – the guy in The Artist?

RB: His name is Jean Dujardin.

DDV: Dujardin, like “of the garden”? Okay, did he tap dance in all of the movie?

RB: He did, yes.

DDV: Even in the end scene?

RB: Yes. And do you think he has a chance…

DDV: As a hoofer? As a dancer?

RB: As a dancer.

DDV: He could be a good dancer. He looks like a great dancer. Is that what you meant?

RB: He trained for six months.

DDV: It seems like a lot of good dancing for six months training. Boy, he must be a fast learner.

RB: Do you think he has a chance at the Oscar?

DDV: No, but I think he’s fantastic in the movie. I like the one line he said in the end, it was very funny.

RB: What was that?

DDV: “With pleasure.”

Ed Helms

Roxanna Bina: What is the world of Dr. Seuss about for you, and in particular The Lorax?

Ed Helms: The world of Dr. Seuss is just about silly, imaginative, wonderful, colorful creatures, characters, and stories, and The Lorax is one of the finest examples of all that.

RB: What types of challenges did you face, shooting this film?

EH: My role in this movie, as the voice of the Once-ler, from a production standpoint, just consisted of walking into a recording booth and doing the voice, which sounds easy, but actually to act in a glass box with a microphone and no other actors around is a little awkward, and it doesn’t come naturally. So it took a little while for me to kind of get in the swing of it. And then, of course, to portray the same character as a young man and an old man was a challenge, just to sort of find the different variations in the voice. And it was really fun.

RB: Did you have to do the voice with the animation, or they hadn’t done the animation yet?

EH: No, you do the voice on your own, and then they animate to your voice.

RB: I see. What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss creature from The Lorax and other Dr. Seuss books?

EH: In The Lorax, there are some amazing creatures. There’s the Bar-ba-Loots, which are like walking teddy bears. The swami swans and the humming fish, which are just one of the highlights of the movie. But there is no creature, in the history of children’s literature, more wonderful and adorable than the Lorax. I mean, he’s a little orange guy with a mustache. He’s the greatest.

RB: [Laughs] What can you tell us about The Hangover III?

EH: [Laughs] I don’t know! We’re not officially moving forward yet. There’s a lot of certainly some positive energy in that direction, but we just don’t know if it’s gonna happen officially or not.

RB: What has been your favorite scene from all the movies you’ve seen ever, and why?

EH: I just saw this movie about three days ago, for the first time. I’d never seen it. And all I knew about it was the parts that I was in – the lines that I had done – so so much of the movie was brand new to me, and I have to say that the opening sequence of this movie is one of the most joyful, hilarious, bizarre, and beautiful scenes I have ever seen in a movie, and I am insanely proud to be a part of it. It’s really cool.

RB: Tell me what sort of themes and messages are explored in The Lorax? And would you consider yourself “green,” like an environmentalist?

EH: Yeah, I would consider myself fairly green, but I don’t think that that is the critical message of the movie. There are a lot of opinions about whether or not we should conserve trees, or whether or not we should treat the environment better. That’s a separate issue. What you can’t argue with is that it’s important to be a responsible citizen, and it’s important to just be respectful of the community that you’re a part of, and to use your resources responsibly, and to not be overwhelmed with greed. And that, I think, is the core message, and it’s a wonderful, timeless message.

Zac Efron

Roxanna Bina: What is the world of Dr. Seuss about for you, and in particular The Lorax?

Zac Efron: For me personally, the world of Dr. Seuss sort of opened my eyes. It was always weird and whimsical and fun and a little bit off, so it was interesting and funny to me, as a kid. Yet, at the heart of it, there are very important messages and beautiful prose. So I don’t know what the world of Dr. Seuss is. It’s weird, it’s awesome, it’s great, it’s right here.

RB: What types of challenges did you face, shooting this film?

ZE: It was kind of weird. It was not what I expected. Luckily, I found out we got to record before it was animated, so we didn’t have to fit our lips into their mouths, which I always wondered if people had to do or not. So they animated to us. What they did is they let us do whatever we wanted, encouraged energy, spontaneity, and then they would take it away from there.

RB: What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss creature in The Lorax and in other books?

ZE: Gosh. Ooh, that’s a tough question because there are so many. I don’t know. I’ve got to say The Lorax now. [Laughs]

RB: He’s fluffy… [Laughs]

ZE: He is. And he sounds like Danny, which is awesome.

RB: What types

of themes and messages does this film explore?

ZE: It’s pretty amazing, how much of a visionary Dr. Seuss was. He’s starting to teach kids young that we need to take care of our planet or all the resources will disappear. And the power of one – all it takes is one seed to re-grow an entire forest. I don’t know. Many things.

RB: What do you think of the French movie The Artist, and had you heard of Jean Dujardin before?

ZE: I have, but I have to confess – I’m embarrassed to say – I have not seen the movie yet. It’s on my list and I keep hearing about it, but I will watch it very soon.

RB: Do you think he’s gonna get the Oscar?

ZE: I haven’t seen the movie yet.

RB: [Laughs] No, but just from all the…

ZE: From the hype? I don’t know. I haven’t seen the movie yet.

RB: [Laughs] Okay. What has been your favorite scene from all the movies of all time, and why?

ZE: [Laughs] I don’t know. That’s really hard. That’s hard. I’ll skip that one.

RB: Okay. [Laughs] Would you consider yourself a “green” individual? Like you’re into environmental…

ZE: I try to be, but at this point, I think I could do more. You can never really do enough. I’d like to think I am, but I’m gonna start trying harder.

Chris Renaud

Roxanna Bina: What is the world of Dr. Seuss about for you, and in particular, The Lorax?

Chris Renaud: I think the world of Dr. Seuss is about these wonderful kind of unique illustrations paired with these interesting new ways to tell stories. One great thing about Seuss was that he was very inventive in his use of language – words like The Lorax, the once-ler, a thmead…so it’s fun, just the way he plays with language. I think The Lorax, very often in Seuss’s work… He originally was a political cartoonist, so he always had something to say in his stories that had a moral or a message, but he was always able to deliver it through those wonderful images and interesting, fun words, in a way that felt entertaining. And I think that’s the nice marriage that he was able to create that’s timeless.

RB: You’ve also directed Despicable Me. Tell me what challenges did you face with The Lorax – shooting that film.

CR: The Lorax is a very challenging story because, even in the book, it’s somber in tone, it’s a very serious message, so I think one of the biggest challenges was trying to locate comedy in that story, and one of the things we did is use music as a storytelling element to sort of be able to deliver the serious message in an entertaining way, and of course expanding a 45-page storybook into a movie that’s about an hour-and-a-half long. So those were the big challenges.

RB: What’s your favorite Dr. Seuss creature in The Lorax or any other Dr. Seuss book?

CR: I think probably The Lorax is my favorite. He’s just this little ball of orange fur with a giant mustache. I describe him as a combination between Yoda and Yosemite Sam from Bugs Bunny. So I think visually, and just from a character point of view, he’s definitely the most interesting and intriguing character in the movie, for me.

RB: How did you come about casting Danny DeVito as a voice? 

CR: [Laughs] I tell the story that there’s a television show in the United States called It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, and Danny is a character on that, and it’s kind of an off-color character, but very funny, and we took a clip from that and put it up against a painting of The Lorax, and we didn’t have a 3D model yet, and we just looked at it and was like, “Wow, that’s it.” So it really was as simple as feeling like the types of roles that Danny does, where he’s a loveable curmudgeon, it is The Lorax, and great casting always feels that way, I think – who you’re casting feels like the character.

RB: Can you tell us the theme and the message of The Lorax, and would you consider yourself an environmentalist, or green type of individual?

CR: I think the theme of the movie is even broader than the environment, actually, because I think it is about taking personal responsibility, trying to make the world a better place, and hopefully finding balance. I don’t know if I think of myself as exceptionally green. I definitely am mindful of the environment. I think you have to be crazy not to be thinking about how many people are on the planet and all the resources that are available. I always think of the story of the astronauts – some of the first astronauts – and looking back at the Earth and the void of space, and realizing how fragile and small it is. So I just thinking about it, you just have to be aware of it. So yeah, I guess I am an environmentalist, but I think all of us, to some degree, whether you’re just recycling or buying a hybrid car, it’s just so much in our consciousness now, or should be. We all have a little bit of that in us.

Universal Pictures' 'Dr. Seuss' The Lorax' is released in theaters on March 2, 2012.