Bill Hader as the Cat in the Hat is no-brainer casting, but the “SNL” veteran and “Barry” creator/star jumped at the chance to star in the new Warner Bros. Pictures Animation film not just because he had a fondness for the Dr. Seuss character (who doesn’t?). He also had a personal connection to the directors behind this irreverent, comedy-forward take on the classic story.
“I said yes in the room. I don’t even think they fully pitched it to me. I was like ‘Yes, I’ll do this. You can pitch me the story if you want, but I’m gonna do it,’” Hader told TheWrap of his decision to star in and executive produce the film, which came about when friend and director Erica Rivinoja reached out.
Hader and Rivinoja worked together on “South Park,” where the actor and comedian spent a few seasons working in the writers room after he left “SNL.” She directs “Cat in the Hat” alongside Alessandro Carloni, with whom Hader worked on a scrapped DreamWorks Animation project called “Me and My Shadow.”
So when he found out they were making this movie together, he was in. But when he started working on the film, he was heartened to see that Warner Bros. let Rivinoja’s specific sense of humor shine through.
“It’s letting people have their own sensibility, which is really important. And not being like, ‘You can’t do that joke, kids won’t get it.’ And I’ve been in screenings with kids, they do get that joke. They laugh really hard at it. It was nice that Warner Bros. Animation let them, and let Erica specifically, have their voice,” he said.
And in between it all, Hader was fulfilling a lifelong dream: he directed his first movie.
Since before “Saturday Night Live,” Hader’s ambition has always been to direct feature films. He spent four seasons on “Barry” honing his craft (and winning a DGA award in the process), and early this year, he started production on an original film called “They Know.”
The project began years ago when Hader and frequent collaborator Duffy Boudreau started writing a horror movie about a divorced dad who grows suspicious that his ex-wife’s new boyfriend has a mysterious influence on their children. They could never crack the rest of the story after the first act, so Hader put it aside – until a screening of an older film unlocked something.
“It had a great setup, but the rest of the movie wasn’t really working, so I kind of shelved it, and then I worked on some stuff for HBO, and then like last July I went and saw the Kiyoshi Kurosawa movie ‘Cloud,’ and for some reason — I can’t tell you why — I walked out of it, and I went, ‘Oh, I now know what to do with that movie that Duffy and I were working on,’” he recalled.
Hader wrote the script on his own last summer while Boudreau was working on the Tulsa-set FX series “The Lowdown.” By the end of the year, he had secured financing from MRC, and by January the film was a go with Hader and Linda Cardellini co-starring.
Hader said he’s locking picture this week, and then the “They Know” team is figuring out whether to debut the film at a festival or go straight to finding a distributor. But while it was initially described as a horror movie, Hader said it has since morphed into something more akin to his HBO series.
“People are calling it a horror movie, and I guess I called it a horror movie, but as it’s come together, it is kind of like you’d call ‘Barry’ a crime show, but it’s not really a crime show,” he explained. “People who’ve seen it so far have said it reminded them of ‘Barry,’ of that kind of tone where it could be very funny and then very serious and then kind of scary, but it’s definitely more of like a psychological movie, but funny.”
Read on for our full Q&A, in which Hader talks about what being a producer on “Cat in the Hat” meant for his creative involvement, how “They Know” came together and more.
I’m curious, kind of going back to when “Barry” ended, what was going through your head creatively? What were you looking to do?
Nothing. I mean, to be honest, when the show ended, I needed a big break, and then that turned into kind of two years of just re-energizing and reading and watching movies and living life. I went on some vacations, which I don’t do, and things like that. But I was thinking about a movie, and then Duffy Boudreau and I had worked a bit on the script, and it had a great setup, but the rest of the movie wasn’t really working, so I kind of shelved it. Then I worked on some stuff for HBO, and then like last July I went and saw the Kiyoshi Kurosawa movie “Cloud,” and for some reason — I can’t tell you why — I walked out of it, and I went, “Oh, I now know what to do with that movie that Duffy and I were working on.” So on my own — because Duffy was doing “The Lowdown” — I just wrote it. It kind of kept the initial setup, and then changed the rest of it, and that’s “They Know,” the movie that we’re just about to finish. That’s really what I was doing the last couple of years.
And in the middle of that, “Cat in the Hat” came about because I just got a call from Erica, who I had worked with at “South Park,” and I’ve known her for probably 20 years now, and she said, “You want to come in and meet? I’m doing ‘The Cat in the Hat.’” And I came in, and the co-director was Alessandro, who I had worked with on a movie that actually got kind of — it was a really great movie, it was called ‘Me and My Shadow,’ and then DreamWorks pulled it. I still don’t know why, but it was unfortunate. But I really enjoyed working with him on that.
So it was this great thing where I was like, ‘Oh my God, these two people are working with each other.’ It was kind of a no-brainer. They just showed me all the stuff they had for it, and then that was that. I said yes in the room. I don’t even think they fully pitched it to me. I was like, “Yes, I’ll do this. You can pitch me the story if you want, but I’m gonna do it.”
I imagine after “Barry” you got a bunch of offers to do a lot of things. Were there nerves or fear of saying no?
Not really no. Yeah, I did get offered things and there were some pretty awesome projects that came by that I just know if I did it, I would never get around to making a movie or directing again. Because what happens is you’ll say yes to that thing, and then something else happens. After “Barry,” I really was just like, people are interested in me directing something, so I should do that now because it might go away. So I just focused on that, and luckily MRC funded the movie, and we were able to make it. It was pretty fast, actually. I finished the script in August, and we were fully ready to go in January. We’ve got Bob Graf producing.
He did a lot of the Coens stuff right?
Yeah, the Coens, and I knew him because he was a line producer on a movie I did called “Paul,” and we had kept in touch. When I like, “Hey, I’m going to do a movie, can I send it to you, and would you be interested in producing it?” he was like, “Yeah, absolutely.” So that was great. And in the middle of all this, I was doing the sessions for “Cat in the Hat,” and it was just really fun. It was a perfect job to have because it kept me in town and I was able to see my kids and have a regular life. I don’t do really well being away from home for a long, long amount of time.
With “Cat in the Hat,” you’re a producer on it too, and I know you’ve done a lot of voice work, but was it different this time around?
A little bit, yeah. But really, you know, it’s Erica and Alessandro. I mean, they had this amazing script, and Bill Damaschke, who’s running Warners Animation, they were amazing. They had a great thing together, so to be honest, I didn’t really say much of anything creatively. I just believed in it. I just thought it was such a good take on the story, and “Cat in the Hat” is the first book I can remember owning. So it was just very fun and important to me.
It’s very irreverent and leans into the physical comedy. It reminds me of “Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs” a bit.
Yeah, it’s letting people have their own sensibility, which is really important. And not being like, “You can’t do that joke, kids won’t get it.” And I’ve been in screenings with kids, they do get that joke. They laugh really hard at it. It was nice that Warner Bros. Animation let them, and let Erica specifically, have their voice.
Did you weigh in on different cuts of the film?
I think I saw the first cut and I gave some notes, but was also kind of like take or leave it, and I don’t think they did any of them. So I was a normal producer (laughs). They understood the movie so well, you don’t want to push anything. Because I’ve been in a situation where someone’s giving you notes and they’re pushing it not because it’s best for the movie, but because they came up with it.
How much did the voice work on this overlap with you shooting “They Know?”
“They Know” we shot in a month, and “Cat in the Hat” was kind of done at that point.
Tell me about spinning up “They Know.” So many people take years to get their first film off the ground and this happened pretty quickly.
I think the timing was good, and it was towards the end of the year, so we were able to go right into the new year, and we got the California tax credit, and it just lined up really well. I don’t think it was anything to do with me or whatever (laughs). Sometimes it’s bad timing and then sometimes it’s great timing where you walk in and they’re like, “Hey, this is exactly the kind of thing we’d like right now.”
What kind of sensibility is the film? I know it’s been described as horror.
People are calling it a horror movie, and I guess I called it a horror movie, but as it’s come together, it is kind of like you’d call “Barry” a crime show, but it’s not really a crime show. People who’ve seen it so far have said it reminded them of “Barry,” of that kind of tone where it could be very funny and then very serious and then kind of scary, but it’s definitely more of like a psychological movie, but funny. That’s the nice thing about it is the people who’ve seen it are like, this is really funny. Probably the kind of funny that people wanted the last two seasons of “Barry” to be (laughs). I thought they were funny! People were always like, “What the fuck is this?”
But yeah Linda is unbelievable, she’s so good. I can’t say enough good things about her. She’s such a wonderful person too, outside of just being an actor who can just kind of do anything. And then the two actresses, Lorelai and Lilu, who play her daughters in it, were just unbelievable. Again, Sherry Thomas, the casting director from “Barry,” cast the movie and just knocked it out of the park. She just has an ability to be like, “I know exactly where to find the people that you’re looking for,” like she did with Anthony (Carrigan) and Sarah (Goldberg) and Michael Irby. She’s a genius.
I love that so much of the crew of the film is your “Barry” crew.
Yeah Carl Herse is the DP, Wade Allen the stunt coordinator, Ali Greer the editor, and Alyssa Donovan, who was my assistant, is the co-producer. It was great having familiar faces around.
Knowing that you wanted to direct a movie for so long, what does it feel like to be on the other side of having directed a movie?
It’s funny because you kind of go, “Oh, I guess I directed two movies a year when I was doing ‘Barry.’” When we were in prep, people were like, “Oh my God, how are we gonna do this in 30 days?” And Carl and I were just looking at each other going like, “Oh, it’s gonna be a piece of cake.” We’re just so used to being under the gun and you just prep and hope for the best. But it was so fun. The only thing that was different is just the post process is longer. Then you go through the whole testing phase, and we don’t have a distributor, so that’s the whole thing that we’re starting up of do you go to a film festival? Do we show it to people? We’re going into all that right now and finding the right place for it. We’re literally locking picture this week, so that’s where my head is at.
This interview has been edited and condensed for length and clarity.
