Chris Renaud knows his way around an animated movie. As a story artist on features including Robots, two Ice Age movies (The Meltdown and Dawn of the Dinosaurs) and Horton Hears a Who!, the filmmaker has added extra work to his plate moving into directing, first with 2010′s hugely successful Despicable Me, which he co-directed with Pierre Coffin, and now on his debut solo effort, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax.
Shocking industry expectations its opening weekend, the movie – starring Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Betty White, Zac Efron and Taylor Swift – debuted at #1 to just over $70 million, followed up with a second win over Disney’s action-packed John Carter, taking in another $38.8 million.
Earning a very positive “A” CinemaScore from opening weekend audiences, The Lorax didn’t fare as well with critics. Then again, critics aren’t this movie’s easily-entertained demographic of children ages 12 and younger. The movie lures you in with its stunning visuals (the 3D is used well, but don’t think it’s a must-see in that format), it as a sweet and important story, and there’s nothing like music to capture a kid’s attention.
Renaud talked about the decision to include music, why the movie would not have worked as a live-action feature, it’s interesting similarity to movies including Super 8 and King Kong, and how he landed Danny DeVito and Betty White. Plus, we try to squeeze as much as we can out of Renaud about the casting of Al Pacino in Despicable Me 2.
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Gerrad Hall: I think what maybe surprised me most is the music. I did not expect that. Who’s idea was it?
Chris Renaud: Whose idea? That’s a good question. We always talked about – actually, I think in some ways it was all of us. That sounds like a politically correct answer, but I really think it’s true. Certainly [Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio], the writers, Cinco wrote a lot of the lyrics, were big advocates of it, [producer] Chris Meledandri as well, Janet Healy, the other producer. When I came in, I said, for me, that was what actually really interested me about the project beyond doing Dr. Seuss.
GH: So they had already been writing it, working on it before you came on?
CR: Yes, yes. The script had started, although I had been talking to Chris about The Lorax for a long time. For me, I thought it was an important element to tell what’s kind of a somber tale [and use music] to deliver a message without feeling didactic…you could keep the seriousness of it but deliver it in a way that was still entertaining.
GH: It’s a really fine line to walk.
CR: It is, it is. But I think it’s really…and still, even after the finished film, it’s absolutely one of the elements that still excites me most about the project.
GH: Was there ever talk about making The Lorax a live-action movie like How the Grinch Stole Christmas?
CR: No. I think, with the Seuss stuff, to me, what you can achieve with animation is just well above what you could do in live-action. You’re going to have to diminish it to a certain degree to do live-action, in my opinion. So, this felt like…even the human characters, you can capture a bit of the Seuss essence in them in the design. [Animation], I think, is just the perfect medium for it.
GH: With adapting books, there’s always the pressure to please fans and not cut out certain parts. Well, clearly, nothing is going to get cut out this book because it is so short. Here, the question is, what to add? What were the things you were excited to add, besides the music, and bring to life?
CR: A few things…well, we did a lot, certainly the wall around the city of Thneedville, making it an important distinction [from the forest]. And one thing we developed was this world of Thneedville where it’s all this kind of fake fun nature, much like Vegas or Disneyland or Dubai, in some ways more relatable to our world than even a more dystopian future, like Bladerunner, but it’s also kind of an island that is almost unsustainable, surrounded by this giant wall, sort of like King Kong I guess. And we also developed the idea of, what gets the story going? Why does Ted go out there? In the book, he’s just a kid going out there, so we came up with the idea of a girl, Audrey, that he has a crush on. And I like that because it’s very relatable – young guy’s got a crush on a pretty girl – and it sort of starts small, he learns about trees from her, but then he discovers something beyond himself, that there’s a bigger world, that there’s something that maybe needs to change. And I like that idea of him starting small – I don’t want to say selfish, but self-interested – but then he sees a bigger world and then maybe a chance to do something to improve it. So those were a couple of big areas, Ted’s world particularly, where we sort of expanded. And within The Lorax/Once-ler story, things like the river rescue scene where The Lorax dumps [The Once-ler’s] bed, sort of inspired by, well, some of my own experiences actually as a Boy Scout when they’d take my cot out into the woods, all that kind of stuff. But it felt like a great idea when you’re camping, what are those pranks and what would The Lorax do to try to get The Once-ler out of the forest?
GH: And it’s great to see that The Lorax knows CPR.
CR: Yes! That’s right, exactly! He’s fortunate to have those two bears serve as the [shock] paddles.
GH: The storyline with Audrey reminded me a lot of – a strange comparison, I know – to Super 8…what can I do to get her attention?
CR: Yes, and you know, you’re right. It’s actually very similar and kind of a classic thing with movies is, what’s the way into the story? In that film, for that boy, he does get a sense of a bigger world as well – there’s an alien building a ship and all this stuff. So, I think what it does, and what you almost have to do with the characters, is you have to create an intimacy, a relatability for the audience, so you have a big story, a big epic story of chopping down a forest in our case and animals who are without a place to live, but you have to start very small and intimate and personal. And that was another reason we tried to build a little bit of a relationship between The Once-ler and The Lorax. I wouldn’t call it a friendship necessarily, well, maybe a little bit, kind of a grudging friendship where they come to an understanding, because I think when The Once-ler betrays him, The Lorax, it has much more impact in the sense of a movie versus the book that he let down a friend. And I think that’s an important thing because I think, for the audience hopefully, they’ll feel that more than even just the big, epic stakes of chopping down the forest; you create this little bit of intimacy and then you betray it, and then it means something between the characters.
GH: This book was quite controversial when it was first published in 1971. And what I also found interesting is that, of all of the books he wrote, “The Lorax” was Dr. Seuss’ favorite.
CR: Yes! All of his stuff has a very…he was a political cartoonist originally, and even “Horton Hears a Who!” I believe that tale…he was imploring the United States to be kind and remember the Japanese after the war; there was an element of that in that story. I think his stuff always – I don’t know about “One Fish Two Fish” – his stuff usually has, very often the ones that are more narrative-based, have kind of an angle. Even “Oh, the Places You’ll Go!” they always have [something] to think about. And I like to think that his experience as a political cartoonist probably shaped that a lot, always wanting to say something a little bit more than just the surface of the story.
GH: Over the past three decades or so, the environmental message and movement has been steadily getting bigger, but my experience is that the generation of kids in school right now are the ones who really understand it. Do you have any hopes or expectations for how younger audiences may view this?
CR: Well, I think that, yeah, there is a certain awareness that’s building, things that were, when I was a kid, which were ‘pie in the sky,’ electric cars would be a great example…things that were pipe dreams are actually coming to be. So, some of those things that actually make the world a better place are coming about. Look, I think it’s always hard to change certain ways of life, I guess, because you get used to certain things, and making a seismic shift can be difficult, particularly in trying, economic times like we’re in right now. But by the same token, it feels like at some point, particularly given now that there are seven billion of us, something’s going to have to give and we’re going to have to become more mindful of how what we do balances with the environment.
GH: You have a great voice cast. Would you consider it your dream cast in bringing The Lorax to life? Are you sitting there just hoping Danny DeVito loves this? I can’t imagine anyone else’s voice except his coming out of The Lorax.
CR: Honestly, that is absolutely how it happened with Danny. We always talked about different ideas, but Danny…we put his voice up against a painting of The Lorax – it was a clip from [It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia] – and it was just, man, it was it! And so, yeah, fingers crossed that he would want to do it. And not only has he embraced the role, he’s…big into the environment and promoting the message, which is terrific. So you get somebody’s who’s not just into the character but also the themes of the movie. In my view, what we did there, and actually all the roles, you offer it, you don’t worry about a Plan B – the Plan B you come up with after the Plan A fails – and fortunately for us…all of our Plan As came through. So yeah, I think the voice cast is incredible.
GH: Even though it’s called The Lorax, it’s really The Once-ler’s story. What I love about Ed Helms is that he can have a naïveté in his voice, yet be sarcastic and grounded all at the same time. I don’t know how he does it.
CR: Yes. That’s why he was so good for the role because he does – even if you think of The Hangover, he’s got a way of playing innocence, but has a dark side, too. I love in that scene at the end [of The Hangover] where he gets in the screaming fight with his girlfriend. 
And I always thought of that when thinking about The Once-ler is that – and he doesn’t really yell much in the part – what’s great about [Ed] is he does have kind of a naïveté, which is really important. We talked about The Once-ler as a bit of a salesman, he believes what he’s doing, though, there’s kind of this positive…
GH: Almost selling himself.
CR: Exactly. And he’s so excited and exuberant, he’s not quite mindful of what he’s doing to the world around him, but it comes from a place of innocence, naïveté, as you say. But then, what happens as he loses himself a little bit, it goes a little darker and then his willful disregard for how his actions are affecting others goes to a darker place. And Ed is able to balance those elements beautifully.
GH: Betty White…now that you’ve directed her, I assume that will remain high up on the list for the rest of your life?
CR: Absolutely! She has so much energy, and it’s funny because the character of Grammy Norma just is Betty White, but that’s great! That’s exactly what we wanted for the role, that enthusiasm, fun, a bit of mischievousness. Man, she’s a pro; she’s just…it was great!
GH: And it’s great when anyone can become a trending hash tag – #BettyWhite – and you have [instant publicity].
CR: When we were starting the movie and casting, it was right after the Snickers Super Bowl spot and her “Saturday Night Live” appearance, and that was like…this is going to be perfect! That was good timing for us.
GH: As we’re sitting here [talking about The Lorax], is a part of your brain already thinking about Despicable Me 2?
CR: A large part. We’re on it.
GH: Speaking of great voices, Al Pacino coming on board. I didn’t realize this will be his first animated movie.
CR: It is, yes, so we’re very excited. We are in the very early stages of animation already, so we are well down the path.
GH: So the cast has not done any voice-over work yet?
CR: Well, Al Pacino has not. But we’ve recorded Steve Carell and the girls, [Miranda Cosgrove and Elsie Fisher and Dana Gaier], who play the girls’ voices, so we have started recording.
GH: Does Pacino’s character have a name? We assume he’s an enemy, a nemesis to Gru?
CR: It is an enemy. I’m not sure [his name is] released yet…he is going to be some kind of new villain for Gru.
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So, to tide over the fans of Despicable Me, here is a fun little teaser trailer Universal and Illumination recently released. Despicable Me 2 is slated for a July 3rd, 2013 release.
