Dr. Seuss the Lorax Production Information 41

Production Information

“What was the Lorax? And why was it there? And why was it lifted and taken somewhere from the far end of town where the Grickle-grass grows? The old Once-ler still lives there. Ask him. He knows.”

—Dr. Seuss, “The Lorax”

From the creators of Despicable Me and the imagination of Dr. Seuss comes the much anticipated feature Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, a 3D-CG adaptation of the classic tale of a forest guardian who shares the enduring power of hope. The animated adventure follows the journey of a 12-year-old as he searches for a real Truffula Tree, the one thing that will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams. To get it he must find the story of the Lorax, the acerbic yet charming character who fights to protect his world. Lending their vocal talents to the project are DANNY DEVITO (television’s It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia, Twins, L.A. Confidential, The War of the Roses) as the iconic title character of the Lorax and ED HELMS (The Hangover, Hangover 2, TV’s The Office) as the enigmatic Once-ler. Also bringing their voices to the adventure are global superstars ZAC EFRON (Hairspray, 17 Again) as Ted, the idealistic youth who searches for the Lorax, and Grammy Award winner TAYLOR SWIFT (Valentine’s Day) as Audrey, the girl of Ted’s dreams. Rounding out the cast are ROB RIGGLE (The Hangover, Big Miracle) as the villain O’Hare, JENNY SLATE (Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked, television’s Saturday Night Live) as Ted’s protective mother, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 2 and beloved actress BETTY WHITE (The Proposal, TV’s Hot in Cleveland) as Ted’s wise Grammy Norma. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is both a funny and emotional adventure highlighting the importance of balance between nature and progress. The film revolves around the Lorax, the hilarious and lovable character who goes to great lengths to protect the trees and the animals that inhabit them. After the Once-ler chops down a tree, the Lorax emerges angrily from a stump with a dire warning for the young entrepreneur. The pastoral landscape of Truffula Valley is filled with a variety of animals— from soaring Swomee-Swans to harmonic Humming-Fish. Cutest of all are bearlike creatures known as Bar-ba-loots, who tumble among the Truffula Trees. The Lorax’s job as guardian of the forest is put to the test when the ambitious young Once-ler chops down a Truffula Tree and threatens to chop down more to further his lofty business plan. Incensed by this uncaring act against nature, the Lorax angrily criticizes the Once-ler’s actions. From their first interaction, the Lorax and the Once-ler are at odds. Each is determined to get rid of the other, but over time they develop a mutual fondness for each other. Ultimately, the Lorax is no match for the greed and ambition that begins to consume the Once-ler, who stops at nothing to build his enterprise —even if it means chopping down every last tree and destroying the valley. Years later, in a world devoid of trees, Ted ventures beyond the borders of his perfectly industrialized town of Thneedville on a journey to find the Once-ler and learn how he can bring home a tree for the girl of his dreams, Audrey. Although hesitant at first, the Once-ler sees something in Ted that inspires him to tell the story of his encounter with the Lorax, which in turn inspires Ted’s mission to restore balance to Thneedville by bringing back Truffula Trees for the whole town. Formerly president of 20th Century Fox Animation, CHRIS MELEDANDRI founded Illumination Entertainment in 2007. In 2010, he launched the global blockbuster Despicable Me, followed in 2011 by the CG-animated hybrid Hop. While at Fox, Meledandri oversaw the studio’s animation division, where he executive produced Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!. For Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, Meledandri reunited many of his key collaborators, including fellow producer JANET HEALY (Despicable Me, Shark Tale). The animated Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 3 adventure is helmed by director CHRIS RENAUD (Despicable Me), who is joined by screenwriters CINCO PAUL & KEN DAURIO (Despicable Me, Hop, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!) and co-director KYLE BALDA (Despicable Me). Leading the animation crew are production designer YARROW CHENEY (Despicable Me, Curious George), art director ERIC GUILLON (Despicable Me) and editors KEN SCHRETZMANN (Toy Story 3, Cars), CLAIRE DODGSON (Despicable Me, Fantastic Mr. Fox) and STEVEN LIU (Despicable Me, Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs). They are joined by award-winning composer JOHN POWELL (Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, How to Train Your Dragon, The Bourne Ultimatum)—who co- wrote the film’s songs with Cinco Daurio—and executive song producer CHRISTOPHER “TRICKY” STEWART. The 3D-CG feature’s executive producers are AUDREY GEISEL (Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!), Ken Daurio and Cinco Paul. In the United States and Canada, the film will be released on March 2, 2012, on what would have been Dr. Seuss’ 108th birthday.

BEFORE THE PRODUCTION

His Favorite Book: Dr. Seuss and “The Lorax”

“‘The Lorax’ doesn’t say lumbering is immoral. I live in a house made of wood and write books printed on paper. It’s a book about going easy on what we’ve got. It’s anti-pollution and anti-greed.”

—Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel

One of the best-selling children’s book authors of all time, Theodor “Dr. Seuss” Geisel created beloved books that have been published in 95 countries and in 17 different languages. An American icon who achieved global success, he has managed the rarified accomplishment of having more than half a billion books sold worldwide. The author did not begin his career as the children’s writer known as Dr. Seuss. Early on, he served as an advertising artist and political cartoonist. Dr. Seuss explained Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 4 the importance he later found in writing for young audiences (in an essay published in 1960): “Children’s reading and children’s thinking are the rock-bottom base upon which this country will rise. Or not rise. In these days of tension and confusion, writers are beginning to realize that books for children have a greater potential for good or evil than any other form of literature on Earth.” In September 1970, hoping to alleviate her husband’s writers block and channel his frustration at the overconsumption he found in his community, Audrey Geisel suggested that they take a trip to East Africa. It was on this trip, after watching a herd of elephants walk across the African mountains of the Serengeti, that he found the inspiration to write “The Lorax.” Seuss wrote 90 percent of the book that afternoon on the only piece of paper he had within reach, a laundry list. Seuss’ writing is inextricably linked to his artwork, and the trees of the Serengeti inspired the book’s silk-tufted Truffula Trees. For the first time in his books, Seuss shifts the color palette in “The Lorax” from primary colors to a look that was mauve, plum, purple and even sage green. Seuss attributed this change in color to encouragement from his wife, and as a tribute to her inspiration, he dedicated “The Lorax” to Audrey and her two daughters, Lark and Lea. When it was published in the fall of 1971, “The Lorax” was ahead of its time. When the environmental movement exploded a decade later, the popularity of “The Lorax” took off with it. Readers young and old were now seeing themselves in the story of a boy searching for answers to what happened to the trees. “The Lorax” has become a story-time staple, teaching and empowering children to create change in their own lives. Notably, “The Lorax” is included on the “Educator’s All Time Top 20 List of Children’s Books.” Of the more than 40 works he penned before he passed away in 1991, Dr. Seuss pronounced that “The Lorax” was his favorite creation. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 5

ABOUT THE PRODUCTION

From Page to Screen: The Lorax Returns

“Plant a new Truffula. Treat it with care. Give it clean water. And feed it fresh air. Grow a forest. Protect it from axes that hack. Then the Lorax and all of his friends may come back.”

—The Once-ler in “The Lorax”

The relationship Meledandri built with Audrey Geisel on Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! led to the decision to make Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. Meledandri gives some background: “The genesis of the decision to do The Lorax as the follow-up to Horton Hears a Who! actually came from Audrey Geisel. We had talked about wanting to do another film together, and she came to me and said: ‘This is the one that I want to do.’ She explained that it had been Ted Geisel’s favorite book, and it had been dedicated to her. She felt this underlying love for the book, as well as a relevance to what the story was about.” The filmmaker gave great thought to the weight and seriousness of adapting a book with such an important legacy and message. He explains: “I sat with the book for quite some time and shared it with my partners at Illumination. With every Seuss property, it is imperative to find a way to tell the story in a way that honors the underlying work he created. It took us about six months to determine whether or not we could successfully do that.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax is the fourth film that Meledandri has crafted with screenwriters/ executive producers Cinco Paul and Ken Daurio. The writing duo had worked with him on Universal’s Despicable Me and Hop, but their first project with Meledandri was Fox’s Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!. They had a familiarity and understanding of the world of Seuss and how to successfully translate it to the big screen. While the responsibility of honoring such a talented artist is vast, so was the opportunity to create a colorful and imaginative filmic world. Meledandri says: “Dr. Seuss had one of the richest imaginations of anybody living and working in the 20th Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 6 century. His worlds have a sense of whimsy and playfulness, and his characters are immediately appealing. He wrote these delightful stories, but inside them are ideas and themes that are absolutely timeless.” Back on board for another Illumination production was Despicable Me’s blockbuster director, Oscar® nominee Chris Renaud. When asked about the influence of Dr. Seuss in his life, Renaud responds: “He has been part of my life since I was a child, and his stories, especially ‘The Lorax,’ are ones that that I’ve passed on to my own kids. He teaches us to be aware of a world that is bigger than ourselves and that each individual can make a difference. That’s something that sticks with you. If we retain these lessons as children, you carry them through your life.” “The Lorax” is a beloved and established property that serves as a touchstone for many young readers. To craft a feature production that would draw audiences further into its story, the team would need to flesh out the book’s characters and create a complementary world. They didn’t set out to rewrite the story, rather to fill in what happened before the book began and after it ended. Filling in these gaps was no small challenge. Reflects the director: “You want to stay true to the material and honor it, but you must expand it and make it into something that works in a 90-minute movie, something very different from a children’s book. You have to decide how to not only take these iconic images and words and turn them into a movie, but how to expand that book’s world.” Fortunately, Seuss had given them the ideal jumping off point. “When the Once-ler throws the seed to Ted, it seemed like a perfect place to expand and figure out what that part of the world would be like…in addition to telling the book’s tale of the Lorax and the Once-ler in the past.” Because “The Lorax” is so cherished, attention to detail for this adaptation was paramount. Shares Renaud: “We know what the Lorax looks like. We have to adapt him to make him a three-dimensional character, but we had the basic structure, and we’ve expanded upon that.” For additional delineation, the director took Daurio and Paul’s imagined world of Thneedville and found visual inspiration from the minutest of details of the town that were shown in the book. He says, “There’s a little drawing of Ted’s town in the corner of the first page of the book. We used this as our inspiration for Thneedville.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 7

Truffula Valley to Thneedville: Who’s Who in Seuss’ World?

“He was shortish. And oldish. And brownish. And mossy. And he spoke with a voice that was sharpish and bossy.”

From giant, furry peanuts and ambitious entrepreneurs to a wide-eyed 12-year-old and the girl of his dreams, the world of Truffula Valley and Thneedville is populated with people and creatures of every stripe. Below is a guide to who is who and what is what.

 The Lorax (Danny DeVito) is the guardian of the forest and speaks for the trees. He is a short, loud and bossy curmudgeon (inside a cute, fluffy creature). The Lorax’s job as guardian is put to the test when the Once-ler chops down a Truffula Tree and threatens to chop down more to further his lofty business plan. The Lorax tries to force the Once-ler out of Truffula Valley and warns the Once-ler that if he disturbs nature, nature will push back.  We first meet the Once-ler (Ed Helms) as an old and bitter hermit who lives in a creaky old shack (the Lerkim) outside of Thneedville. He is the only one who can tell young Ted about the Lorax, real trees and what happened to them. We flash back to the Once-ler as a young man, who takes his donkey, Melvin, and moves to Truffula Valley in hopes of making his fortune. After an unexpected confrontation with the Lorax, the Once-ler promises that he won’t chop down any more trees. But when temptations of greed and success get the better of him, he breaks his promise, eventually chopping down every last one. The old Once-ler explains to Ted that there once were real trees everywhere, until he destroyed them to make Thneeds (a revolutionary product with a million uses).  Ted Wiggins (Zac Efron) is a passionate young kid who searches for a living tree, which will enable him to win the affection of the girl of his dreams, Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 8

Audrey. To find one, he must discover the story of the Lorax, the grumpy yet charming creature who fights to protect his world. Ted realizes that pleasing Audrey and the fate of Thneedville both rest on his quest to find a tree.  Audrey (Taylor Swift) is Ted’s neighbor who dreams of seeing a real tree. She is a free spirit who has a deep passion for the world around her and paints an amazing mural of the Truffula forest, a place she has never seen. She plays along when Ted “accidentally” loses toys in her back yard and is amused by him, as he has an obvious crush on her.  Aloysius O’Hare (Rob Riggle) is larger-than-life, but only a thigh-high comedic villain. O’Hare became rich by selling fresh air to the people of Thneedville. His factories pollute the air, which helps his business boom. O’Hare runs his empire from a giant blimp hovering over Thneedville, and is always flanked by his enormous thugs, Mooney and McGurk. He has everything to lose if trees are restored to town and fresh air becomes free once again.  Despite her age, Grammy Norma (Betty White) is full of life and energy. She remembers a time when the world was full of trees, and she is determined to help her grandson, Ted, with his plan to restore balance to Thneedville. Grammy Norma is the one who advises Ted to seek out the Once-ler, for only he can tell Ted the story of the Lorax and the trees.  Ted’s mom (Jenny Slate) is an average Thneedville resident and has fully embraced the conveniences of her fun yet artificial world. She is puzzled by the eccentric behavior of her mother, Grammy Norma, and her son, Ted, and keeps an eye on both. But when her family is threatened, she goes to great lengths to protect them.  Adorable bearlike creatures who live to tumble among the Truffula Trees, play games and eat sweet fruits, Bar-ba-loots are arguably the cutest creatures in Truffula Valley. Lou is the largest, and Pipsqueak is the klutzy baby of the clan. Pipsqueak loves two things: marshmallows and drooling in his sleep.  Seen flying in gaggles across the Truffula Valley paradise, Swomee-Swans may be recognized by their graceful necks and noble chests. They’ll nest Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 9

anywhere: from atop light fixtures to right in a bowl on your table. The cross- eyed Bill is the youngest of the flock, and he is as funny as he is cute.  You may hear the signature sound of Humming-Fish from miles away. Finn and Gil, especially, enjoy Truffula berry pancakes almost as much as turning the Once-ler’s drinking glasses into Jacuzzis. But gunk up their ponds with sticky schlopp, and you’ve got one angry Lorax with which to deal.

Comedy Legends and Young Superstars: Casting the Film

“Unless someone like you cares a whole awful lot, nothing is going to get better. It’s not.”

When casting the actors who would voice the characters in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, the filmmakers looked to a variety of performers to find not just the ideal actors for the film, but also the perfect people to embody Dr. Seuss’ iconic characters. Producer Healy reveals that many of the animators’ choices are influenced by the voices of the actors. “The animators study the actors as they are doing their lines, and take the nuances of the actors’ expressions and put them in the movie,” she says. “That’s what really brings the characters to life. They do a lot of homework and look at the actors and see what’s unique about them and what they are bringing to this particular performance, and borrow from them.” Cast as the gruff yet comical Lorax was legendary comic actor Danny DeVito, who currently entertains TV audiences weekly with his portrayal of Frank Reynolds on It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. For the filmmakers, DeVito’s voice represented the sharpish and bossy nature of the Lorax, while also coming off as lovable. Compliments Meledandri: “The challenge in casting this role was to find an actor who has the ability to be both acerbic and lovable: someone who could give a real comedic wit to a grouchy character but who is simultaneously incredibly appealing. Danny, with his immense talent, became the perfect fit.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 10

Agrees Renaud: “There really was no second choice. Quite literally, we had a painting of the Lorax at the time, and we put Danny’s voice against it. It was just perfect. There wasn’t another choice in anyone’s mind. He felt like perfect casting to us, and it’s worked beautifully.” The film and television actor, who is as known from the seminal TV series Taxi as he is for his roles in blockbusters such as Romancing the Stone, Terms of Endearment, Ruthless People and Big Fish, is no stranger to voice work for animated characters. His vocal work as the satyr/trainer Philoctetes in Disney’s hit animated film Hercules was effortless and scene-stealing. DeVito, a father of three, is a lifelong fan of Dr. Seuss’ books and is an environmental advocate. Seeing the artists’ sketch of the Lorax made him even more eager to work on the project. He says: “There’s a certain thing about doing the voice for a character that you love. All of Dr. Seuss’ books are a lot of fun, and some of them are a bit political. I’m green, and I want everybody to take care of the forests. Chris brought the drawing of the Lorax over, and it popped into my head that it was such a great character. I love the way he was written so energetically, and I jumped at the chance to work on the film.” DeVito also feels that the Lorax is a symbol of something that is inside all of us. “He’s a unique species, but there is a Lorax in every one of us. He’s the spirit inside of us, the one that says, ‘Don’t throw that on the ground. Put that in the recycling bin.’ He’s the guy who says, ‘You know what? I think I’ve eaten enough sugar today. I’m going to go have an apple.’” Cast in the role of the enigmatic Once-ler was comedic actor Ed Helms, known to audiences for his roles in The Hangover series and NBC’s The Office. Unlike any other character in the story, the Once-ler has a sobering story arc that crosses time. Helms had the challenge of voicing the Once-ler as the old hermit from the book, as well as the Once-ler as a young man who moves to Truffula Valley in hopes of making his fortune. Shares Renaud of his actor’s talents: “Ed was excited to take this iconic character, which you never see in the book, and get the opportunity to expand upon him, flesh him out and make him whole. Ed’s ability to be both sarcastic and biting, but also vulnerable and innocent, was what we needed to make this character work.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 11

“The challenge of performing both those ages convincingly is enormous because they have to sound vocally distinct, while maintaining an integrity and consistency between the older and younger versions,” explains Meledandri. “Ed Helms brings his brand of wit and irony to the role of the Once-ler. He has the acting chops, strong comedy instincts, and he is, at heart, a writer, which is a wonderful quality to have in a lead voice of an animated movie. The shaping of the role frequently involves many ad libs and lots of invention on behalf of the actor.” The performer was eager to take on the role. Helms recounts his interest: “‘The Lorax’ was a definite favorite on my childhood bookshelf. My mom loved Dr. Seuss and got my brother, sister and me started very early reading his books. I felt a strong connection to Dr. Seuss’ fantastical world; it made me laugh and made sense to me in a weird way. Playing the Once-ler was a huge thrill because it enabled me to actually inhabit that world.” When Helms heard about a film adaptation of “The Lorax,” he sought out the filmmakers and asked to be involved. He explains: “I heard that these guys were making The Lorax, and I asked for a meeting with Chris Meledandri. I sat down and told him that I would love to be a part of the movie, no matter how small the role, just because this story is special to me and I have a visceral connection to it.” Helms elaborates upon his character: “Like a lot of us, the Once-ler wants to make his mark on the world. He’s driven and intelligent, and he sets out on this path to do great things and be successful. But he gets overwhelmed by it. I think that the Once- ler is intrinsically good, but he gets sucked into this feedback loop of profit and success, and that takes him down a very dark path. Fortunately, he sees the error of his ways, but it might be too late!” When it came to vocals, Helms found voicing the young Once-ler an easier task than creating the older version of the character. “The young Once-ler sounds very close to me and how I normally talk,” he says. “The old Once-ler sounds very different and much older than I actually am, so it was harder to refind that voice every time I came back in for a recording session. I figured out that if I screamed and coughed a lot, then I was able to get to that older, raspier voice a little easier. The character has the same brain and he thinks the same, but he’s a lot more jaded and bitter later on in the story.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 12

Healy acknowledges that Helms’ work helped to make the character of the Once- ler one of her favorites in the film. She says: “I love the Once-ler character, and I always have from the time we first settled on Ed’s voice and the character design. We did things like put a rakish hat and a vest on him, and we made the Once-ler a very interesting character.” The role of the passionate and curious 12-year-old named Ted went to Zac Efron, known to audiences for the High School Musical series and the hit musical Hairspray. Though the character is much younger than the actor, the filmmakers knew that Efron’s charm and youthful spirit would serve the character well. It was more important to cast someone who could bring life to the character in a unique and passionate way than it was to stay true to the literal age of Ted. Meledandri says: “Zac is a gifted actor and has a boyish charm that makes him irresistible. He is able to channel that charm in his voice performance.” Efron vividly remembers his parents reading “The Lorax” to him as a child and credits the book as “planting the seed of an environmentalist” in him. Reflecting upon his character, he states: “Ted is a regular kid growing up who is hungry for adventure. He’s got a crush on this girl, and he has a crazy grandma and a mom who is too strict, so he wants his freedom. He lives in a world in which there is virtually no nature—no trees and no plants. Everything exists through technology, so it’s fun to see him navigating a similar family life that we have today.” Voicing an animated character was a new experience for Efron. He notes that though the process of recording alone in a booth felt a bit awkward at times, he enjoyed the challenge. “I thought back to my childhood and put myself in these awkward, hilarious situations that this kid finds himself in. The variations between something being funny and something not quite fitting are so slight, but they can make all the difference. It’s fun to really let go, though I’m sure it looked ridiculous when I was in the sound booth.” Global superstar and award-winning singer Taylor Swift was cast as Ted’s dream girl, Audrey, a high-school environmentalist and budding activist who wishes to see a real tree. Meledandri says: “We are beginning to see the extraordinary range of Taylor Swift’s talents. Audrey was a new character that we introduced to the story, so it was Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 13 vital that we find someone who could capture her in a convincing and compelling way. Taylor’s intrinsic passion and expressiveness make Audrey one of the most appealing characters in the film.” Swift’s excitement for working on the project only grew when the filmmakers showed her a drawing of the character that she would voice. “I loved the character from the first time I saw any kind of drawings or renderings of Audrey,” the performer explains. “I thought she looked quirky and different. There was something really special about the way that they conjured her up in their minds, and I wanted to be a part of it. “Audrey’s a total dreamer and she has these impossible dreams,” continues Swift. “I’ve always been drawn to people with impossible dreams. She draws this mural of these Truffula Trees on her wall, and those had been long forgotten by everyone else. She dreams of the day when everything won’t be so concrete and cold. Audrey is a regular high-school girl, but she’s got some extraordinary characteristics about her personality. She’s adventurous and she takes chances.” The small, yet powerful villain and financial king of Thneedville, Aloysius O’Hare, is voiced by comedic actor Rob Riggle. The character was created for the film, and he represents greed personified and control of all information in and out of Thneedville. Riggle describes his duplicitous, yet industrious character: “O’Hare is wise at times and unethical at others. He’s an industrialist who is trying to create a Thneedville that maybe others don’t want. It’s the Napoleon complex that gives him his rage and anger.” Explains Efron about his on-screen nemesis’ motivation: “Ted has a strange vibe from him, from the very beginning. O’Hare looks like he’s three feet tall and has a weird bowl haircut. He walks around with these two huge bodyguards [Mooney and McGurk] and manipulates everyone. He doesn’t want any trees to come back because they’ll start producing the product he’s become rich off of: air.” Renaud thought Rob Riggle was a perfect fit for the part of O’Hare: “The character that Rob plays is a very broad character, and he loves going broad. He has this booming voice and he was able to capture that slick, smarmy side and also the abrasive, ruthless, aggressive side of O’Hare, while still being funny. Rob has this wonderful quality to balance all of that.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 14

Riggle jokes that he was actually cast because of the convincing tirade he launched into when he sat down with the filmmakers. “I went on a tirade against trees and how much I hated them. As I read for the filmmakers, I realized that we were kindred spirits and I had to play the role.” To prepare to play O’Hare, Riggle wryly states, “I spent many days down at the playground, yelling at children. If I didn’t like the way they ran, or they were too slow on the monkey bars, I’d yell at them.” As Riggle recorded his vocals, he interacted with Renaud, even though the director was across the Atlantic in France. During these sessions, the director Skyped in from the animation studio in Paris. Riggle says: “Chris Renaud was very good about giving you a sense of where we are in the story and what’s happening and what you’re feeling. I love the fact that the director is in Paris and I was here in Los Angeles, and yet, we’re making magic. We live in a great time.” Award-winning actress Betty White, who will be forever beloved for playing Rose Nylund on The Golden Girls, was cast as the sassy and energetic Grammy Norma, who tells Ted to visit the Once-ler and explains what to do when he gets there. She is instrumental in making sure that the Truffula Tree seed is found and kept safe. Though her character is not in the book, Grammy Norma is one of Audrey Geisel’s favorite characters in the film. “Grammy Norma’s rich design looks nothing like Betty White, but with her iconic voice, the personality of Betty White comes blasting through,” explains Meledandri. “She’s the character that others have written off as being too old, but her grandson realizes that her wisdom can be very helpful to him. She surprises all of us and becomes this incredible ally to Ted in ultimately achieving his goals.” Not a stranger to working in animation, White enjoyed the challenging task of voice-over work. “You have to make somewhat of a fool of yourself in the booth, but it’s great fun and it’s interesting,” she says. “You do the voice work alone, and it’s great that you don’t have to put on makeup or have your hair done or anything like that. You’re kind of talking to yourself, really. The hardest part is not the lines as much as the sound effects like when you have to sound like you’re falling off a motorcycle or you’re running into a wall. But that’s show business.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 15

Toward the climax of the film, an agile and feisty Grammy Norma teams up with Ted to fight off O’Hare and his goons in a sweeping third-act chase. “I never thought I’d be an action hero,” laughs White. “I may still not be much of an action hero, but Grammy Norma gets up on a truck and she does all kinds of things and runs the whole show to help her grandson.”

DeVito Becomes the First Actor in an Animated Movie to Voice His Role in Multiple Languages

“I am the Lorax. I speak for the trees. I speak for the trees, for the trees have no tongues. And I’m asking you, sir, at the top of my lungs.”

—The Lorax in “The Lorax”

It is always a challenge to cast title characters across the globe in a way that preserves the integrity of both the animated character and the actor’s original performance. The incredible personality that DeVito brought to the Lorax in the English version was so compelling that the team wondered if he could capture that same brilliance in other languages as well. DeVito was approached with the seemingly impossible task of voicing his character in four different languages. Despite the fact that he wasn’t fluent in any language beyond English, DeVito is always game for a challenge. He agreed to voice the character in Spanish, Italian, Russian and German. Against all odds, he nailed not only the local dialects but also the comedic timing in those languages. Commends Renaud: “It’s an incredible challenge that Danny agreed to undertake, and he was committed to getting it perfect. He worked with a director from the local territories, as well as linguists. Speaking any language, it’s all about the nuances and the sounds. It’s not easy to get that exactly right, particularly across so many languages. I said that nobody but Danny DeVito could be the Lorax, and it is now true across the globe.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 16

Celebration and Inspiration: Visual Style of Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax

“But those trees! Those trees! Those Truffula Trees! All my life I’d been searching for trees such as these. The touch of their tufts was much softer than silk. And they had the sweet smell of fresh butterfly milk.”

Because of the close relationship that Meledandri, Paul and Daurio built with the Seuss estate during the production of Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, the filmmakers understood the nuances of the artist’s work. For the new characters and scenes that populate Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, the team and Renaud insisted on one dictum: follow the spirit of the book. Additional plot, characters and settings all needed to have a Seussian quality that feel consistent with the world imagined by Geisel. In addition to staying true to actual imagery from the book, there were subtle yet important elements that Geisel employed for the first time in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. He strayed from his traditional color palette and used colors to emphasize the imbalance of a world without trees. Reflects Meledandri, “As we bring the new story to life, we bring new designs to life. Our designers were always very cognizant of Ted’s style, so there’s an absolute continuity. For example, Ted was doing some interesting things with color in this book. He was departing from a palette that had been quite simple in his previous work, and he was utilizing new colors that were a surprise for his editors. In fact, Audrey was giving him input on the palette, and it’s most notable when you get into his depictions of sky. There are deep purples and new variations of blues that he combines to create what is a very ominous sky.” Production designer Yarrow Cheney, who created the intricate universe of Despicable Me, returned for Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. He describes his selections for this film’s color palette: “Our plan of attack was to get familiar with the book and its colors, shapes and characters and try to understand what’s special about this world that Dr. Seuss created.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 17

Thneedville Naturally, with the book as source material, the team wanted the story to be brought to the big screen as a very bright and colorful world, but also one that illustrates the tone and harmful effects of the Once-ler’s actions. While the book explores the gorgeous primary-colored universe of the young Once-ler’s past and the decrepit, smogulous space that the Once-ler creates after he has chopped down all of the Truffula Trees, the film amplifies Thneedville, creating a fun and modern world. Thneedville is by no means an awful place for Ted, his mom, Audrey, Grammy Norma and the rest of its denizens to reside. Renaud says: “We came up with the idea to have Thneedville be a bit more relatable. It’s like Vegas or Disneyland or Abu Dhabi. We see ourselves in it a bit, and it is kind of fun. There are inflatable bushes and mechanical flowers and trees, and it’s a place with no real nature. Everyone seems to be happy, and they have everything they want: from giant cars to robots and other mechanical devices. But then it becomes a question about sustainability. While all this stuff is fun and great, is it in balance with the broader planet, and how do we maintain that balance?” Only briefly glimpsed in the opening pages of the book, Thneedville serves as a bigger setting in the film. Shares the director: “The world of Thneedville was one of the biggest additions for the film. It was so design heavy, and it’s such a colorful and complex artificial place. Its design was something that was important to support the story and the transformation that this world had to go through.” Ted’s journey begins the minute he steps foot out of Thneedville and discovers the destitute world lying behind it. As he makes the harrowing journey to the Lerkim (and the Street of the Lifted Lorax), he realizes that what Grammy Norma has been telling him is all true. There is another world beyond the borders of his perfect town. Reflects Cheney: “When we introduce the audience to the real version of the world behind the wall, all of the color has been pulled out of that world. We have these cool blues and deep purples….it’s deeper and it’s darker. When the audience discovers Truffula Valley, however, it’s a beautiful green place with blue skies.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 18

Truffula Valley “The Lorax” gave the design team a wealth of source material for Truffula Valley. They were able to take advantage of the book’s colors, shapes and all the animals, as well as the Truffula Trees and the rolling green hills. Their big challenge was to take what was 2D and make a full three-dimensional world where one could walk around in and smell the flowers and play among the Bar-ba-loots, Swomee-Swans and Humming-Fish. Producer Healy reflects on the process of translating from page to screen: “There were a lot of technical difficulties in making Truffula Valley feel distinctive but also look like nature and maintain Dr. Seuss’ style. Luckily, we have great artists at every level— from the concept design team to the execution and modeling and surfacing teams. Every step of the way added so much. We set-dressed every shot to make sure that the characters stood out against the trees.” One of the most signature looks in Truffula Valley are the stunning Truffula Trees, ultimately used by the young Once-ler to make his Thneeds. The production designer found the Truffula Trees to be quite complex to create. He offers: “One of the design problems that we had to solve was the shape of the Truffula tuft itself, because it is a pinwheel shape but only looks right from one angle. You turn it on its side and it’s a bunch of tuft shapes coming at you, and it loses its shape altogether. “We had to compose shots with trees, and we had artists that would take the tufts and turn them very subtly toward the camera to get that Truffula pinwheel-tuft shape that you know from the book,” he continues. “It took a lot of development to get that to work in a three-dimensional space. Some of the shots when the Once-ler arrives in the valley for the first time include thousands of these trees, and they’re all blowing in the wind and feel lighter than air. It’s a remarkable accomplishment technically and artistically.” As Truffula Valley is destroyed by the Once-ler and his family, the valley becomes impossible for the creatures to inhabit. “The book also contains lots of illustrations of the devastated version of the Truffula Valley that show the land without trees,” adds Cheney. “The sky isn’t blue anymore. It’s filled with purple and blue clouds, and those are the visual cues that we took for the devastated version of the valley and Thneedville. Because the sky was gone, the trees were gone and the color was gone. We built a world around that.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 19

The Lerkim When Ted goes outside of town to search of the Once-ler in the Lerkim, it’s a big moment in the movie and one of the most iconic from the book. The audience sees for the first time that Thneedville is not what it’s cracked up to be. Explains Renaud: “He witnesses what is essentially a wasteland. The town is encircled with a giant wall, and nobody goes outside of town. Again, we were very much thinking of Las Vegas—cities that are in a desert. Ted can’t believe it; he’s never seen it before, and he journeys out to amongst the tree stumps and the acrid creeks.” Production designer Cheney shares a fact that careful moviegoers will recall from the book. He notes: “If you look closely in some of the factory scenes, you’ll see the Lerkim is actually part of the old factory. It’s all that is left from the Once-ler’s Thneed- making days. It’s an excellent example of where we have taken one of the Dr. Seuss designs from the book and made a dimensional version of that.”

Inside the Adventure: Immersion into a 3D World

“And, under the trees, I saw Brown Bar-ba-loots frisking about in their Bar-ba-loot suits as they played in the shade and ate Truffula Fruits. From the rippulous pond came the comfortable sound of the Humming-Fish humming while splashing around.”

For Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, character animation and computer graphics were masterfully handled by Illumination’s recent acquisition, the Paris-based animation facility Illumination Mac Guff, who did stunning work on Despicable Me. The filmmakers took great care to adapt the classic flat imagery of the book in a way that preserves the original’s authenticity while providing audiences a fresh and unique experience. For the French and American animators, planning had to be seamless, as Healy puts it, a “well-oiled machine to create a world you know you wanted to save.” Notes the producer: “We were working across time zones, but we had a constant crew from the Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 20

Despicable Me team. At peak, there were about 350 of us on a couple of floors, working on the movie. We were divided into different departments that communicated well and had tremendous technical and production leadership.”

Classic Imagery to CG Though Renaud, Meledandri and Healy were quite practiced in supervising CG animation, taking Dr. Seuss’ creations and reinterpreting them in this world was as much of a challenge as their last project. Explains Meledandri: “Just like on Horton, we very much started with Ted’s work. With such a well-known and beloved property, the real opportunity is to translate his original drawings into a three-dimensional world. We didn’t know whether or not we could truly do justice to “The Lorax” until we had translated that very simple design of the Lorax into a dimensional 3D character, and we could see that the spirit of Ted’s drawing was living and breathing in that dimension.” Renaud paid close attention to Dr. Seuss’ visual style as he helmed the film. Dr. Seuss is known for his wavy lines and ramshackle buildings, and they didn’t easily lend themselves into translation into the third dimension. “It was a challenge to take Seuss’ deceptively simple pen-and-ink illustrations and make dimensional objects and characters out of them,” explains the director. “Some of our big influences in the book are things like the shape of the Lerkim. It feels like it wouldn’t even stand up in the illustration. “We were very true to the look of the Lerkim when we created the 3D model,” he continues. With certain characters, however, they had to make small adjustments to bring them into the 3D world. “In the book, the Once-ler is just yellow eyes and green hands, so we cheated our lighting scheme. Often in computer animation, it works best and is more believable when it feels real. But many times, you have to find where to push so the images are not so ‘real.’ For example, the Once-ler has a big bright light behind him, but meanwhile, you see his eyes. In reality, you never would see those eyes because his face would go black with that much light behind it.” From a technical point of view, creating an animated adventure in CG is much more challenging than developing a 2D version, because the animators need to render each frame twice. Explains the director: “We always considered 3D when developing the experience for the audience. From the computational/rendering perspective, it was very Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 21 intense rendering any kind of fur, and every tree in this movie has fur on it. To make this film in 3D, we thought of everything from using wide lenses to having shots where you’re in a character’s perspective—whether we had shots when the Once-ler heads down the river or when the Swomee-Swans fly through trees.” Creating a dimensional, living world from flat, still images requires great technical skills and attention to detail. Cheney reveals: “There is a challenge that comes with taking illustrations and making a three-dimensional world out of those illustrations. You can say a lot with a drawing, but when you actually have to make a three- dimensional space that you can move around in, everything has to be designed. That includes everything from a pencil sharpener on a desk and every car and character, to each building as well as the sky and the clouds. Every minute detail and every big detail has to be designed from scratch…and from every single angle.” It was not just the designs, but it was also the building of these designs that required months of work for each shot. Cheney notes: “Someone has to put color and lights on the objects and characters. Design plays a very big role in creating animated films because nothing actually exists. The clothes on the character have to be designed; the kind of fabric that a shirt is made out of has to be thought about.” The biggest technical challenge to the team on this film? So much hair and fur! Explains computer graphics supervisor BRUNO CHAUFFARD: “The world of Truffula Valley is almost all done with hair. All the trees are built with hair, the grass is hair, the Bar-ba-loots are furry, and we have a crowd scene when everybody is getting into the Truffula Valley, which is a scene with lot of polygons to render. When I saw the concept, I was with Chris Renaud, and we questioned how we were going to be able to render this world…because our software at this date was not able to render all of these polygons, fur and hair.” The solution was to think outside the box and get more ambitious and industrious than ever before. Says Chauffard: “We worked hard to be able to get it to render. All the different departments did a fantastic job, and finally, we were able to create custom software to render the movie.” A second complexity particular to this film was the number of crowd shots. Animating singing crowds was an entirely new challenge for the team. Healy says: Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 22

“Another piece that is quite ambitious for The Lorax and quite different than Despicable Me is the number of crowds. We have a few group musical pieces, so there are a lot of scenes with 100 or 200 characters in them. To be able to have hand animated all of the characters, and have them acting—but not stealing the thunder from the foreground characters—was one of the big challenges of this movie. I was very happy with the results.”

Shaping the In-Theater Experience Lighting is as important to a CG-animated film as it is to a traditional live-action one. The team crafted each shot to guide the viewers’ eyes to the character that would eventually appear on screen…the same process as if they were lighting actors on set. For example, the animators learned never to put the Lorax in front of an orange Truffula Tree, as that would wash him out completely and render him almost invisible. The team strived to show motion and ensure a completely immersive experience for the audience. Reflects CG supervisor Chauffard: “We did a lot of research because we had to discover the ‘softness’ of this tuft or that tuft. I did some small movement to make the Truffula Trees feel fresh and a little bit windy. All the trees are constantly moving in the film…you feel it. The colors, the feeling and the movement were very important. Some of the trees are also designed to move dynamically when they are cut by the Once-ler’s machines and they fall.” Healy explains that giving the audience this experience was a laser-coordinated effort: “The fur, the Truffula Trees, the grass and the environment are very computing- intensive because a lot of data was required. When they move, it was even more data. When they interact, it was compounded. To have the furred characters interacting with one another and the environment takes a lot of talent. It takes a lot of special code and many great technicians to pull it off. We had a tight loop between what we thought about on the page and what we designed, and we brought in the technical people at just the right time.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 23

3D Adventure From the insane scooter ride throughout Thneedville to the Once-ler’s runaway ride down the river rapids with Pipsqueak, each element of the story was intended to draw the audience into the film and give them a truly 3D adventure. Stereographer JOHN R.A. BENSON’s job was to ensure that the 3D elements were truly taken advantage of in an exciting way. He says, “We wanted to make the characters feel round—make them feel like they’re right in front of you but not so close that it felt weird. In a theater, you want to look at the space in front of the screen and the space that’s inside the screen and feel like it’s all one. We designed the film so you could be standing next to the Lorax and participating as if he’s in your living room and feel that you’re just as much a part of the environment as the characters are. Healy explains that with so many elements necessary for the audience to absorb in the theater, the construction was very deliberate. She says: “When you’ve got a lot of things going on in the scene, all those multiple colors in the background or a complex city with traffic and crowds, you have to be able to design them so the lighting, the colors and the values are separating the character from the background. That’s something we did very judiciously, shot by shot, to make sure that we had just the right room light to make it pop on screen.” 3D means manipulating another dimension. Concludes the producer: “When you are doing that in stereo that means you’ve got another dimension that you have to manage. You have to manage not only where your eye looks on the screen, but you have to manage where your eye looks in depth. We luckily have this incredible team that understands that importance and works well together to make sure that it’s seamless for the audience.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 24

Let It Grow: Music of the Film

“Way back in the days when the grass was still green and the pond was still wet and the clouds were still clean, and the songs of the Swomee-Swans rang out in space… one morning, I came to this glorious place.”

Though the filmmakers wouldn’t categorize Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax as a musical, the animated adventure uses music extensively to further enrich the narrative. Ted Geisel himself turned to score in his animated telling of How the Grinch Stole Christmas!. Explains Meledandri: “The film bursts onto the screen with the townspeople of Thneedville singing about how much they love their lives. There are about five or six songs that figure prominently in the storytelling.” Meledandri, Healy and Renaud turned to multitalented composer John Powell to write the score and the songs used in Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. Known for his compositions for animated hits including How to Train Your Dragon, Kung Fu Panda and Shrek, as well as of live-action films such as Hancock, The Bourne Ultimatum and Mr. & Mrs. Smith, Powell and his musical work are quite linked to these blockbusters. Writer/executive producer Cinco Paul wrote the lyrics for the seven songs that are featured on the soundtrack. “John Powell is a composer whom I’ve had the privilege of working with on Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Horton Hears a Who!,” says Meledandri. “He is tremendously gifted in writing melodies, and he did all of the composition on the film.” At the end of the day, the team knew they were making a fable that needed to be inspirational to children of all ages. It was a delicate balance to entertain while still maintaining the core message of the source material. Says Renaud about incorporating musical numbers: “You can do things in songs where you can give the story a sense of irony and a sense of fun, and it helps tell this story, which is essentially a somber, dark tale. Music has the ability to give anything a lighter tone, which is important for an animated movie. We begin with ‘Thneedville,’ which sets up the world, and we end with Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 25

‘Let It Grow,’ which is the anthem of rebirth. The film starts with celebration and ends with inspiration. So those two songs were our bookends that we built from.” The Once-ler happens to play the guitar and has a number of solo songs where he picks it up and sings. Singing is very much a part of his character. Luckily for the film, Ed Helms is an accomplished musician. He recorder all of the Once-ler’s songs including “These Trees” and “Everybody Needs a Thneed,” written by John Powell and Cinco Paul, and “How Bad Can I Be,” written by Powell, Paul and Kool Kojak. Commends Renaud: “Ed came in and sang three songs so easily. He’s a fabulous bluegrass musician, and he can play piano. He nailed them, one after another.” The logic of breaking into song must be carefully orchestrated within the narrative itself, so that it feels like a natural extension of the story. Explains Powell: “There are moments when we almost go into kitsch to punctuate the idea that it’s a story being told. The opening is a proscenium arch, and we begin with the storyteller, the Lorax, who comes onstage. That’s what I took my cues from when I composed the score. It’s all about matching the music to the storytelling style. The story itself has quirkiness to it, and there are a few times when we break the fourth wall.” As the townspeople of Thneedville celebrate the planting of the last Truffula seed and begin to see life emerging from the ground for the first time in decades, we hear “Let It Grow,” followed by “Let It Grow (Celebrate the World),” written by Christopher “Tricky” Stewart, Ester Dean, Cinco Paul, John Powell and Aaron Pearce, which plays with the closing credits. Meledandri brought in Tricky Stewart, a producer known for inventive and imaginative lyrics. Stewart has previously collaborated with Beyoncé, Rihanna, Justin Bieber, Christina Aguilera and Katy Perry, and is uniquely skilled at writing unforgettable anthems. Says Renaud about working with Stewart: “I remember listening to ‘Single Ladies’ and thought it was just incredible. It was so out of the box and yet worked so brilliantly. Tricky is a very proficient producer of all sorts of music, and he’s got very eclectic tastes.” Explains Stewart about writing the song: “Ester Dean and I took the song ‘Let It Grow’ and did an adaptation and turned it into the record that it is now. We took that Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 26 great message and commercialized it into a way that you feel like you want to hear it a million times. The message is great, but the song strikes a chord without being preachy. “Doing songs for artists versus movies is different, because as a producer of music, my ego has to be extremely involved in order to make the best decisions for things that people don’t understand about pop culture,” Stewart continues. “There is a different situation when you step into the film world, because unlike records, it takes 15 to 20 great minds to make one amazing film, so your ego has to take a backseat and you can’t be married to ideas. You can’t get so in love with something that you can’t see it change, because it’s always evolving and it’s always changing.” **** Universal Pictures presents a Chris Meledandri production: Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, starring Danny DeVito, Ed Helms, Zac Efron, Taylor Swift and Bette White. The production designer is Yarrow Cheney, and the art director is Eric Guillon. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax’s editors are Ken Schretzmann, ACE, Claire Dodgson, Steven Liu. The film’s music is by John Powell. It is based on the book by Dr. Seuss, and the screenplay is by Cinco Paul & Ken Daurio. The 3D-CG feature’s executive producers are Audrey Geisel, Ken Daurio, Cinco Paul. The film is produced by Chris Meledandri, Janet Healy. The animated adventure is directed by Chris Renaud. © 2012 Universal Studios. www.theloraxmovie.com

ABOUT THE CAST

DANNY DEVITO (The Lorax) is one of the entertainment industry’s most versatile players, excelling as an actor, producer and director. He wrote, directed and produced several short films in his early Hollywood years before emerging as a feature-length filmmaker. Dark comedic themes characterize his trademark films, including The Ratings Game, Throw Momma From the Train, The War of the Roses, Hoffa, Death to Smoochy and Matilda. In April, DeVito will co-star in the London stage revival of Neil Simon’s comedy The Sunshine Boys, which follows an aging comedy duo as they reunite after years of animosity to perform one last time. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 27

DeVito recently wrapped production on his first horror feature, The November Project, which he directed and produced. This fall, DeVito returns as Frank Reynolds in the eighth season of FX’s acclaimed cult comedy It’s Always Sunny in Philadelphia. In 2009, he and the rest of the ensemble cast completed a sold-out (within minutes) nationwide tour featuring a live stage adaptation of The Nightman Cometh. In 2010, they joined forces with Sarah Silverman and the cast of Family Guy for a benefit concert that raised more than $300,000 for Haiti earthquake victims. DeVito runs TheBloodFactory.com, an online collaboration, with screenwriter John Albo, of horror shorts he affectionately refers to as “splatter cuts.” He is also the principal of Jersey Films 2nd Avenue, a successor company of Jersey Films. Jersey Films has produced more than 20 motion pictures, including Freedom Writers, Be Cool, Garden State, Along Came Polly, Man on the Moon, Pulp Fiction, Out of Sight, Get Shorty, Hoffa, Matilda, Living Out Loud and Erin Brockovich (which was nominated for an Academy Award®). Two films co-starring DeVito won the Academy Award® for Best Picture (One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest and Terms of Endearment), but it was the part of Louie De Palma on the television show Taxi that propelled him to national prominence. He won an Emmy and a Golden Globe for the role. In a 1999 readers’ poll conducted by TV Guide, DeVito’s Louie De Palma was voted No. 1 among “TV’s 50 Greatest Characters Ever.” Apart from his work with Jersey Films, DeVito has starred in such films as Junior, Batman Returns, Twins, Romancing the Stone, The Jewel of the Nile, Ruthless People, Tin Men, Anything Else, Big Fish, Renaissance Man, The Big Kahuna and Heist. He starred more recently in The Good Night, Deck the Halls, Relative Strangers, The Oh in Ohio, Be Cool, Nobel Son and Even Money. DeVito attended Our Lady of Mount Carmel grammar school and Oratory Preparatory School in Summit, New Jersey, but appeared only once in a school play, as St. Francis of Assisi. After graduation, he pursued several odd jobs, always with the idea of acting in the back of his mind. He finally entered the American Academy of Dramatic Arts in New York. “They had fencing and a speech class,” he said mockingly, “so you don’t talk funny.” Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 28

Unable to get work, DeVito bought a round-trip ticket and headed to Hollywood. After years of unemployment, he returned to New York. He called an old friend and former American Academy professor who, coincidentally, had been seeking him out for a starring role in one of three one-act plays presented together under the title of The Man With the Flower in His Mouth. DeVito was soon into big money ($60 a week), and other stage performances followed. Among his credits were Down the Morning Line, The Line of Least Existence, The Shrinking Bride and One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest. In 1975, under a grant from the American Film Institute, DeVito and his wife, actress Rhea Perlman, wrote and produced Minestrone, which has been shown twice at the Cannes Film Festival and has been translated into five languages. They later wrote and produced a 16-millimeter black-and-white short subject, The Sound Sleeper, which won first prize at the Brooklyn Arts and Cultural Association competition. DeVito carries his success well. Never forgetting that there were more difficult times, he maintains a healthy sense of perspective. As Taxi character Louie De Palma would say, “If you don’t do good today, you’ll be eatin’ dirt tomorrow.”

ED HELMS (The Once-ler) is best known for his scene-stealing roles on both the big and small screen. He will next be seen starring in the Duplass brothers’ Jeff Who Lives at Home, opposite Jason Segel and Susan Sarandon. The film follows slacker Jeff (Segel), who is dispatched from his basement room on an errand for his mother (Sarandon) and discovers his destiny when he spends the day with his brother (Helms), as he tracks his possibly adulterous wife. The film is slated for release by Paramount Pictures on March 16, 2012. More recently, Helms starred opposite Bradley Cooper and Zach Galifianakis in The Hangover Part II, the sequel to Todd Phillips’ critical and commercial success The Hangover, which drew a worldwide gross of more than $467 million and won the 2010 Golden Globe for Best Motion Picture— Musical or Comedy. Helms currently stars in the scene-stealing role of Andy Bernard in the seventh season of NBC’s hit comedy The Office. His other television credits include a four-year Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 29 stint as a senior correspondent and writer on the Emmy Award-winning The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, Comedy Central’s Premium Blend and FOX’s Arrested Development. His previous film credits include Miguel Arteta’s Cedar Rapids; Shawn Levy’s Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian; The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard; Semi- Pro; Knocked Up; Meet Dave; Harold & Kumar Escape From Guantanamo Bay; Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story; and Evan Almighty. Born and raised in Atlanta, Georgia, Helms headed to New York City to pursue comedy shortly after attending Oberlin College in Ohio. He now resides in Los Angeles and plays a mean banjo.

Nurturing an impressive body of work that encompasses film and television, ZAC EFRON (Ted) is one of Hollywood’s most promising talents as his career continues to evolve with exciting and challenging projects. Efron received ShoWest’s Breakthrough Performer of the Year Award; MTV Movie Awards for Breakthrough Performance (2008) and Best Male Performance (2009); and multiple Teen Choice and Kids’ Choice awards. Efron recently wrapped production on the Warner Bros.’ film The Lucky One. A film adaptation of the Nicholas Sparks novel, The Lucky One tells the story of a marine who returns to North Carolina after serving in Iraq and searches for the unknown woman he believes was his good luck charm during the war. It was directed by Scott Hicks and is slated for release in April 2012. He also recently finished working on The Paperboy, a film based on a reporter who returns to his hometown in Florida to investigate a death- row inmate case. Efron stars in the film alongside Nicole Kidman, John Cusack and Matthew McConaughey. More recently, Efron starred in Warner Bros.’ New Year’s Eve. The film, directed by Garry Marshall, tracks the lives of several couples and singles whose lives intertwine over the course of New Year’s Eve. Efron also starred in Universal Pictures’ Charlie St. Cloud, based on Ben Sherwood’s acclaimed novel. The film is a romantic drama in which Efron stars as a young man who survives an accident that lets him see the world in a unique way. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 30

In 2009, Efron starred in two very different films. He starred in the Warner Bros. film 17 Again, a Big-like dramedy in which a 36-year-old man, in need of a major life do- over, wakes up in the body of a high-school senior. The film opened No. 1 at the box office and also stars Matthew Perry and Leslie Mann. Efron also starred in the Richard Linklater film Me and Orson Welles, an adaptation of the period coming-of-age novel by Robert Kaplow. Efron portrays a high-school student who happens upon the yet-to-open Mercury Theatre and is then noticed by Orson Welles. He stars in the film alongside Ben Chaplin and Claire Danes, and it debuted to rave reviews at the Toronto International Film Festival. Efron starred in the Disney feature film High School Musical 3: Senior Year, the third installment of the extremely successful High School Musical franchise. HSM3 set a box-office record with the highest-grossing opening-weekend total for a musical. He also starred alongside an all-star cast in the box-office smash summer film Hairspray, a film about an all-white American Bandstand-style television show that gets a soul infusion. The film won the Critics’ Choice Award for Best Acting Ensemble and the cast was also nominated for Golden Globe and Screen Actors Guild awards for its impressive work on the film. Segueing effortlessly between the big and small screens, Efron quickly garnered attention and became the breakout star of the Emmy Award-winning Disney Channel phenomenon High School Musical. He reprised his role as Troy Bolton, head of the basketball team, in High School Musical 2, which broke cable-TV records by garnering 17.5 million viewers. His other television credits include a recurring role on The WB series Summerland and guest-starring roles on The Suite Life of Zack and Cody, ER, The Guardian and CSI: Miami. Additionally, Efron starred on stage in the musical Gypsy and has appeared in productions of Peter Pan, Mame, Little Shop of Horrors and The Music Man. A native of Northern California, Efron currently resides in Los Angeles. He recently started his own production shingle and has several feature film projects in development. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 31

TAYLOR SWIFT (Audrey) is a four-time Grammy Award winner, Billboard’s 2011 Woman of the Year and the reigning American Music Awards Artist of the Year, as well as the Entertainer of the Year for both the Country Music Association and the Academy of Country Music. Her “Speak Now” album has sold more than five million copies worldwide and she is the biggest-selling albums artist in any genre of music over the past 12 months. Swift is the top-selling digital artist in music history, Billboard’s current Top 200 Albums Artist (all genres) and Entertainment Weekly’s 2010 Entertainer of the Year. Her singles have topped both the country and pop radio charts and have sold more albums than any other artist in any genre of music last year. With 1,046,718 copies sold in the U.S. in the first week of release, her “Speak Now” album scored Nielsen SoundScan’s biggest single-week sales total since 2005 and is the biggest-debuting country studio album in history. With the release of “Speak Now,” Swift made history on the Billboard Hot 100, charting a record-breaking 11 songs from one album in a single week. Swift, who writes all of her own songs, has career-record sales now in excess of 20 million albums and 40 million song downloads. Her “Fearless” album was 2009’s top-selling CD, and she was the top-selling artist of 2008. At the age of 20, Swift became the youngest artist in history to win the music industry’s highest honor: the Grammy Award for Album of the Year. Also at the 2010 Grammys, she took home the awards for Country Album of the Year, Best Country Song and Best Country Female Vocal Performance. Her six-time-platinum “Fearless” album is the most awarded album in country music history. In 2009, she was named Artist of the Year at the American Music Awards (for the first time) and also became the youngest artist in the 43-year history of the Country Music Association to be awarded country music’s top prize when she took home the CMA Award for Entertainer of the Year. Swift is one of only two female artists in history to win country music’s highest honor twice. She currently holds the Billboard all-genre records for the longest-charting album of this century, for the most top-20 debuts in a calendar year and for the largest overall airplay audience for a country-based act. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 32

Swift is on tour in support of “Speak Now”, having played 98 shows in 17 countries in 2011, with the tour continuing in Australia and New Zealand in 2012. Her 15-month, 107-date “Fearless” 2009/2010 tour sold out arenas and stadiums in 88 cities in five countries spanning four continents. Swift released her first-ever concert CD and DVD set, “Speak Now World Tour – Live, “on November 21 of last year.

ROB RIGGLE (Mr. O’Hare) has steadily climbed into prominence as a sought- after comic actor both in films and on television. He was recently named to star in the CBS comedy series Home Game, produced by Mark Wahlberg, and will be seen in Columbia Pictures’ 21 Jump Street and Universal Pictures’ Big Miracle. The Louisville, Kentucky, native was raised in Overland Park, Kansas, and attended the University of Kansas. He went on to earn a master’s degree from Webster University before entering the United States Marine Corps in 1990 with a plan to become a pilot. After serving in areas such as Liberia and Afghanistan, he remained in the United States Marine Corps Reserve as a public affairs officer based in New York City at the rank of lieutenant colonel. In New York, he became interested in acting and joined the comedy improvisation group Respecto Montalban. Small roles on television (Late Night With Conan O’Brien) and in films (Pushing Tom, Blackballed: The Bobby Dukes Story, Terrorists) led to his major film debut as a sportscaster in the hit comedy Talladega Nights: The Ballad of Ricky Bobby, in 2006. Larger roles in such films as Unaccompanied Minors, Step Brothers, The Hangover, The Goods: Live Hard, Sell Hard, Killers, The Other Guys and Going the Distance followed. He has been a familiar face on television, appearing as a regular on Saturday Night Live in 2004, as well as The Daily Show With Jon Stewart between 2006 and 2010. He also has appeared in such series as Human Giant, Funny or Die Presents…, Gary Unmarried and Chuck and has voiced several characters on American Dad!. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 33

A longtime fixture on the downtown and Brooklyn alt-comedy scenes, JENNY SLATE (Ted’s Mom) is a durable stand-up comedienne, with long stands at the Upright Citizens Brigade (UCB) Theatre, the Rififi Theatre, Comix, NYC’s Pianos and The Peoples Improv Theater. In 2009, Slate presented her one-lady show, Jenny Slate: Dead Millionaire, to sold-out audiences in New York and Los Angeles, and revived it at the UCB Theatre in 2010. Last season, Slate joined the Saturday Night Live (SNL) cast as a featured performer and created memorable characters including Tina Tina, the doorbell saleslady. Before joining SNL, Slate was cast in the HBO comedy series Bored to Death as Stella, Jason Schwartzman’s stoner girlfriend. Most recently, Slate shot a supporting role in 20th Century Fox’s This Means War, directed by McG, and a leading role in 20th Century Fox’s Alvin and the Chipmunks: Chipwrecked. Additionally, Slate is developing Marcel the Shell With Shoes On into a book series and a television show.

BETTY WHITE (Grammy Norma) was born on January 17 in Oak Park, Illinois, and moved to Los Angeles with her parents when she was two years old. She graduated from Beverly Hills High School. White played small parts on radio, which led into television at its very inception on the West Coast (1949). Her first big break was joining Al Jarvis on a local television show that broadcast live five and a half hours a day, six days a week. After two years, she inherited the show for an additional two years. In partnership with producer Don Fedderson and writer George Tibbles, White formed her own production company and produced her first comedy series, Life With Elizabeth, for which she received her first Emmy in 1952; The Betty White Show, an NBC daily talk/variety show; and the network situation comedy Date With the Angels. She appeared frequently on major variety and game shows and was a recurring regular with Jack Paar (more than 70 appearances), Merv Griffin and Johnny Carson, appearing in many Mighty Carson Art Players skits. She also subbed as host on all three shows and was a regular with Vicki Lawrence on Mama’s Family as Ellen Harper Jackson, a role she created with the rest of the company on The Carol Burnett Show. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 34

White’s first appearance on Mary Tyler Moore in the show’s fourth season led to her becoming a recurring cast member. She received two Emmy Awards for Outstanding Continuing Performance by a Supporting Actress in a Comedy Series for her portrayal of Sue Ann Nivens, the “Happy Homemaker,” in 1975 and 1976. White hosted the New Year’s Day Tournament of Roses Parade on network television for 20 years and the Macy’s Thanksgiving Day Parade for 10 years. From 1970 to 1971, White created, wrote and hosted her syndicated television animal series, The Pet Set. In 1976, she was awarded the Pacific Pioneers in Broadcasting’s Golden IKE Award and the Genii Award from American Women in Radio & Television. She received her fourth Emmy for Outstanding Host or Hostess in a Game or Audience Participation Show for Just Men! She was nominated seven times for Outstanding Lead Actress in a Comedy Series for The Golden Girls, and won an Emmy in the show’s first season, in 1985. She then appeared in the spin-off, The Golden Palace, for one season. In 1996, she received an Emmy Award for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series for her role on The John Larroquette Show. In 1997, she received an Emmy nomination for her guest-starring role on Suddenly Susan. In 1987, the American Comedy Awards gave her the award for Funniest Female Performer in a TV Series (Leading Role) Network, Cable or Syndication for The Golden Girls, and in 1990, she received its Lifetime Achievement Award in Comedy. In 1995, she was inducted into the Academy of Television Arts & Sciences Hall of Fame. In 2000, she received the American Comedy Award for the Funniest Female Guest Appearance in a TV Series for her role on Ally McBeal, and in 2002, she made recurring appearances on That ’70s Show. In 2007, White received an honorary Doctor of Humane Veterinary Sciences degree from Western University’s College of Veterinary Medicine. In August 2009, the Television Critics Association honored her with its Career Achievement Award. In September 2009, she received a Disney Legends Award, and in October 2009, she was honored by the Jane Goodall Institute with a Lifetime Achievement Award. In 2010, White charmed sports fans with her role in a top-rated Snickers Super Bowl commercial. In January 2010, she received the Screen Actors Guild (SAG) Life Achievement Award, and in April 2010, the American Women in Radio & Television Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 35 honored her with a Lifetime Achievement Award in Acting. The British Academy of Film and Television Arts (BAFTA) honored her with the Britannia Award for Excellence in Comedy. She was inducted into the California Hall of Fame in December, and was nominated for two People’s Choice Awards. She was also voted AP’s Entertainer of the Year in 2010. In January 2011, White received her first SAG Award for Outstanding Performance by a Female Actor in a Comedy Series for the snarky but lovable caretaker on the TV Land series Hot in Cleveland, which also stars Valerie Bertinelli, Jane Leeves and Wendie Malick. Also in 2011, she received an Emmy nomination for her role on the show and was given Broadcasting & Cable’s Lifetime Achievement Award in addition to being inducted into its Hall of Fame. White had a recurring role on Boston Legal, as Catherine Piper, and a recurring role as Ann Douglas on the daytime drama The Bold and the Beautiful. On May 8, 2010, she hosted Saturday Night Live. The episode was one of the highest-rated in the show’s history, and White won an Emmy for Outstanding Guest Actress in a Comedy Series, bringing her Emmy award total to seven. She guest-starred on the season finale of The Middle and on the NBC series Community. She also hosts and executive produces NBC’s hidden-camera comedy show Off Their Rockers. A trustee of the Morris Animal Foundation since 1971, White serves as president emerita. In 1987, she received the American Veterinary Medical Association’s Humane Award. She has recently been named chairwoman of the Greater Los Angeles Zoo Association, having served on the board since 1974 and as a zoo commissioner for eight years. In February 2006, she was honored by the City of Los Angeles at the Los Angeles Zoo as Ambassador to the Animals for her lifelong work for animal welfare. A bronze plaque was placed next to the zoo’s gorilla exhibit. She was also recently inducted as an honorary United States forest ranger. White has appeared in several movies for television, including Chance of a Lifetime with Leslie Nielsen; The Retrievers, for Animal Planet; Stealing Christmas, with Tony Danza; and Annie’s Point, for the Hallmark Channel. She recently starred in the CBS Hallmark Hall of Fame movie The Lost Valentine, which aired in January 2011. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 36

Her endeavors on the big screen include Hard Rain, with Morgan Freeman and Christian Slater; Dennis the Menace Strikes Again!, playing Martha Wilson, opposite Don Rickles; writer David E. Kelley’s Lake Placid; Rob Reiner’s The Story of Us; Bringing Down the House, with Steve Martin and Queen Latifah; and The Proposal, with Sandra Bullock and Ryan Reynolds. She also starred in Disney’s You Again, with Jamie Lee Curtis and Sigourney Weaver, which was released in September 2010. She is the author of seven books, including “Betty White’s Pet-Love”; “Betty White in Person”; “The Leading Lady: Dinah’s Story,” co-authored with Tom Sullivan; “Here We Go Again: My Life in Television,” which was reissued in October 2010; and “Together: A Story of Shared Vision,” also co-authored with Tom Sullivan. On May 3, 2011, her book “If You Ask Me: (And of Course You Won’t)” was released, and “Betty & Friends: My Life at the Zoo” was released in November 2011. White was married for 18 years to Allen Ludden, host of television’s Password, until his death in 1981. She lives in Brentwood, California, with her golden retriever, Pontiac.

ABOUT THE FILMMAKERS

Having worked for Marvel and DC Comics from 1994 to 2000, CHRIS RENAUD (Directed by) comes from a background in comic art. From there, he moved to production design at Shadow Projects and Big Big Productions, where he oversaw all aspects of the animation process, including character development, creating concept storyboards and managing teams of digital modellers and artists. He progressed to Blue Sky Studios/20th Century Fox Animation, where he worked as a story artist on a number of feature animation projects, including Robots, Ice Age: The Meltdown and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! His role was to translate the screen story into the visual language of cinema, inventing and staging both dramatic and comedic action. In 2007, Renaud conceived, wrote and storyboarded the animated short No Time for Nuts, overseeing every creative aspect of production, including design, layout, lighting, rendering, music composition and sound design. No Time for Nuts was Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 37 nominated for an Academy Award® and went on to win the animation industry’s Annie Award for Best Short. From 2008 to 2010, Renaud directed, with Pierre Coffin, the animated hit Despicable Me, the 10th highest-grossing film in the U.S. domestic box office in 2010. He and Coffin are currently directing Despicable Me 2.

CHRIS MELEDANDRI (Produced by) is the founder and CEO of Illumination Entertainment, which has an exclusive financing and distribution partnership with Universal Pictures and released its first film, Despicable Me, starring Steve Carell, in July 2010. Despicable Me has earned more than $540 million worldwide. Illumination Entertainment also released Hop, starring Russell Brand and James Marsden and directed by Tim Hill (Alvin and the Chipmunks), in April 2011. Hop opened at No. 1 in North America for two consecutive weeks. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax continues the successful collaboration between Meledandri and Theodore “Dr. Seuss” Geisel’s widow, Audrey Geisel. Additionally, the Illumination team is hard at work on Despicable Me 2. Meledandri was previously an executive at 20th Century Fox for 13 years. While there, he became founding president of 20th Century Fox Animation, which he headed for eight years, amassing more than $2 billion in global box-office revenue. During his tenure, he helped 20th Century Fox become a major player in the world of animated feature films and in 1998, he led 20th Century Fox’s acquisition of fledgling visual effects/commercial house Blue Sky Studios, which he built into a successful producer of animated features. He oversaw the creative and business operations of Blue Sky Studios, now 20th Century Fox’s wholly owned CGI studio. While at the studio, Meledandri supervised and/or executive produced movies including Ice Age, Ice Age: The Meltdown, Robots, Alvin and the Chipmunks, The Simpsons Movie and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Before joining 20th Century Fox, Meledandri was president of Dawn Steel Pictures at Walt Disney Pictures, where he served as an executive producer of Cool Runnings. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 38

JANET HEALY (Produced by) started her career in live-action films with such great directors as Stanley Kramer, Hal Ashby and Sam Peckinpah. She worked with Steven Spielberg on Close Encounters of the Third Kind and 1941, serving as associate producer on the latter. She then joined George Lucas’ premier visual effects company, Industrial Light & Magic (ILM), as a co-head of production. At ILM, Healy produced some of the era’s most groundbreaking visual effects work, including the Academy Award®-winning visual effects for Terminator 2: Judgment Day and Jurassic Park. While producing the digital character work for Casper, Healy fell in love with character animation. She joined Walt Disney Feature Animation as the head of digital production and oversaw work on the films Tarzan, Dinosaur and Mulan. She moved to DreamWorks Animation to serve as head of production for several years and, while there, produced Shark Tale. In 2008, Healy joined Chris Meledandri as he was beginning his new venture, Illumination Entertainment, for Universal Pictures. Along with Meledandri, Healy is the producer of Despicable Me and the upcoming Despicable Me 2.

AUDREY GEISEL (Executive Producer) is the CEO of Dr. Seuss Enterprises. Formed in 1993 to maintain the quality and integrity of the Dr. Seuss trademark, Dr. Seuss Enterprises has overseen the production of all licensed, posthumous adaptations of Dr. Seuss’ work. Geisel is also president of the Dr. Seuss Fund and Dr. Seuss Foundation, which donate funds to a variety of causes and institutions that promote literacy, including: Family Literacy Foundation, National Center for Family Literacy, Rolling Readers, and the San Diego Council on Literacy. In addition, the Dr. Seuss Fund and the Dr. Seuss Foundation have donated funds to numerous other organizations and foundations. Geisel oversees the many literary and entertainment projects based on Dr. Seuss works, as well as philanthropic endeavors that pay tribute to the late author. In 2008, she served as executive producer on Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 39

As 3D productions are on the way to becoming the norm, KEN DAURIO (Screenplay by/Executive Producer) is right on trend with two high-profile 3D animated films on his résumé. Daurio and his writing partner, Cinco Paul, are the hot Hollywood screenwriting team who penned Despicable Me for Illumination Entertainment/Universal Pictures and Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! for executive Chris Meledandri during his tenure at 20th Century Fox. After Paul and Daurio’s work on Horton led to a box-office gross of nearly $300 million worldwide, the duo found themselves in demand in the animation world. Daurio and Paul further forged their strategic relationship with Meledandri when Meledandri formed the film production company Illumination Entertainment, which specializes in animation. It’s no coincidence that Illumination’s first three movies given the green light were all written by Daurio and Paul (Despicable Me, Hop and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax), something unheard of in the history of animation. Daurio and Paul are known throughout the entertainment industry for their unique pitching style, often singing their pitches to high-level studio executives. For the Disney film College Road Trip, they belted out the ’80s tune “Double Dutch Bus,” complete with harmony and melody. An estimated 90 percent of their pitches in the last nine years have involved musical performances. Daurio met Paul while working on a church musical and they bonded immediately. In 1999, they sold their first screenplay, Special, which they later turned into a short film that played the festival circuit due to its dark comedic story line. Next came the 2001 cult classic Bubble Boy, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy Livingston (a boy without an immune system), a twisted take on the John Travolta television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Paul and Daurio also had the distinct honor of being handpicked by Audrey Geisel (the widow of Theodor Seuss Geisel) to pen the Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax film projects on behalf of the estate of Dr. Seuss. Daurio and Paul are currently working on Despicable Me 2. Upon graduating from high school, Daurio began directing music videos for up- and-coming bands like Blink 182, AFI and Jimmy Eat World. More than 100 music videos later, he teamed up with Paul to write his first feature script. Daurio and Paul are now one of Hollywood’s most sought-after screenwriting teams. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 40

As 3D productions are on the way to becoming the norm, CINCO PAUL (Screenplay by/Executive Producer/Songs by) is right on trend with two high-profile 3D animated films on his résumé. Along with Ken Daurio, he wrote the surprise blockbuster Despicable Me, which has made more than $540 million worldwide. Paul and his writing partner, Ken Daurio, are the hot Hollywood screenwriting team who also penned the Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who! screenplay for executive Chris Meledandri during his tenure at 20th Century Fox. When Horton led to a box-office gross of nearly $300 million worldwide, Meledandri formed the film production company Illumination Entertainment, which specializes in animation. Illumination’s first three movies given the green light were all written by Paul and Daurio: Despicable Me, Hop and Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax. Paul and Daurio are known throughout the entertainment industry for their unique pitching style, often singing their pitches to high-level studio executives. For the Disney film College Road Trip, they belted out the ’80s tune “Double Dutch Bus” complete with harmony and melody. An estimated 90 percent of their pitches in the last nine years have involved musical performances. Paul met Daurio while working on a church musical and they bonded immediately. In 1999, they sold their first screenplay, Special; later, they turned it into a short film that went on to play the festival circuit due to its dark comedic story line. Next came the 2001 cult classic Bubble Boy, which starred Jake Gyllenhaal as Jimmy Livingston (a boy without an immune system), a twisted take on the John Travolta television movie The Boy in the Plastic Bubble. Paul also recently turned Bubble Boy into a full-length musical, for which he wrote the music and lyrics. His other film credits include Disney’s megahit The Santa Clause 2. Paul and Daurio are currently working on Despicable Me 2. Paul studied at Yale University, where he graduated summa cum laude with a degree in English. Upon moving to Los Angeles, he received his MFA in screenwriting from the University of Southern California, winning a fellowship grant to pay for his second year. Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 41

A frequent creative collaborator with director Paul Greengrass, JOHN POWELL (Music by/Songs by) composed the scores for United 93, The Bourne Supremacy, The Bourne Ultimatum and Green Zone. Powell’s work spans many genres. He received an Annie Award nomination for his Rio score in 2012; won an Annie Award and received Academy Award® and BAFTA nominations for his How to Train Your Dragon score in 2011; received an Annie Award nomination for his Ice Age: Dawn of the Dinosaurs score in 2010; received a BAFTA nomination for his Happy Feet score in 2007 and a Grammy Award nomination for the Happy Feet soundtrack in 2008; and won an Annie Award for his score to Kung Fu Panda in 2009. He has composed music for other top animated films including Happy Feet Two, Kung Fu Panda 2, Mars Needs Moms, Robots, Bolt, Dr. Seuss’ Horton Hears a Who!, Chicken Run and Antz. His score for Shrek was BAFTA-nominated in 2002. His additional film credits include Knight and Day, Fair Game, Hancock, Stop- Loss, P.S. I Love You, X-Men: The Last Stand, Mr. & Mrs. Smith and The Italian Job. Powell began his career composing music for commercials and television at London’s Air-Edel in 1988. Later, he started his own jingle house and worked on many mixed- media art-installation works with artist Michael Petry, as well as the opera An Englishman, an Irishman and a Frenchman. His score for Face/Off, starring Nicolas Cage and John Travolta, marked the beginning of a prolific film-composing career.

In 2011, KEN SCHRETZMANN, ACE (Edited by) was awarded an American Cinema Editors Eddie Award for his work on Pixar’s Toy Story 3. His other credits include Cars and Monsters, Inc. He lives in Northern California.

CLAIRE DODGSON (Edited by) is a National Film and Television School graduate, who has worked in animation for the last nine years. In addition to Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax, her feature-animation credits include Despicable Me (additional editor), The Tale of Despereaux (associate editor), Fantastic Mr. Fox (first assistant editor) and Corpse Bride (second assistant editor). Dr. Seuss’ The Lorax—Production Information 42

Her television editing credits include the BAFTA-winning children’s series Charlie and Lola, and Tinga Tinga Tales, a children’s series made in Kenya, where she trained local editors. Dodgson is currently an editor on Despicable Me 2.

STEVEN LIU’s (Edited by) previous film credits include Open Season 2 and Kung Phooey!, and he served as an additional editor on Illumination Entertainment’s Despicable Me. Liu also worked on Toy Story (second assistant editor), A Bug’s Life (assistant editor), Open Season (first assistant editor), Surf’s Up (associate editor) and Cloudy With a Chance of Meatballs (associate editor).

ERIC GUILLON (Art Director) previously art directed Illumination Entertainment’s box-office hit Despicable Me, and is currently in production on the film’s sequel, Despicable Me 2. For his work on Despicable Me, Guillon received an Annie Award nomination for Production Design in a Feature Production.

YARROW CHENEY (Production Designer) attended the California Institute of the Arts from 1992 to 1995, before beginning his career as a character animator at Turner Feature Animation/Warner Bros. Feature Animation on Cats Don’t Dance, Quest for Camelot and The Iron Giant. In 1999, he won an Emmy Award for Outstanding Main Title Design for his opening title sequence to Sony’s Dilbert series. Cheney went on to design Sony Pictures Imageworks’ Academy Award®-winning theatrical short The Chubbchubbs! and Universal Pictures’ Curious George. In 2006, he directed, produced, edited and production designed The Very First Noel holiday special. In 2008, Cheney joined Illumination Entertainment as production designer for Despicable Me and is currently working on Despicable Me 2.

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