40 Fun Facts About The Cat in the Hat (2003 Film)

Which Canadian-born Saturday Night Live alumnus plays the title role, under heavy makeup, in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Mike Myers landed the part in March 2002 and said the Seuss original was the first book he ever read.

Crashing a birthday party Sally was not invited to in The Cat in the Hat (2003), the Cat disguises himself as what?

A piñata is the Cat's disguise, and it backfires at once when a boy at the party swings a wooden bat at him.

After the poor reception of The Cat in the Hat (2003), who barred further live-action films of Seuss books?

His widow, Audrey Geisel, halted every further live-action adaptation, which also ended plans for a sequel to the film.

Production of The Cat in the Hat (2003) went ahead only after a hit 2000 film about which other Seuss character?

The Grinch came first: the Cat rights had been bought in 1996, but the project only moved once that Christmas film was a commercial success.

In The Cat in the Hat (2003), where does scheming neighbor Larry Quinn plan to send Conrad to be rid of him?

Military school is how Larry means to clear the way: he is secretly jobless and in debt, and wants to marry Joan for her money.

Which actor, later Jack Donaghy on 30 Rock, plays the scheming neighbor Larry Quinn in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Alec Baldwin defended the film on its DVD commentary, arguing that turning so singular a book into a feature meant taking liberties.

Which child star of I Am Sam plays Sally, the rule-following younger sister, in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Dakota Fanning was cast in April 2002, having become at seven the youngest person ever nominated for a Screen Actors Guild Award.

In The Cat in the Hat (2003), which part of the house does Joan forbid her children to enter before her party?

The living room must stay pristine for the work gathering she hosts that night, and her boss fires people for the smallest slip.

Which band, known for All Star, covers the Beatles song Getting Better on the soundtrack of The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Smash Mouth had already been all over Shrek two years earlier, with All Star and a cover of the Monkees' I'm a Believer.

What is the job of Joan, the workaholic mother of Sally and Conrad, in the 2003 film The Cat in the Hat?

Real estate agent Joan works for Humberfloob's firm and is dating next-door neighbor Larry Quinn as the story opens.

Which family dog runs away with a magical lock clamped to his collar in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Nevins bolts with the lock on his collar, which sends the Cat and both children out of the house to hunt for him.

In The Cat in the Hat (2003), Thing 1 and Thing 2 emerge from which container, a portal to the Cat's world?

A crate, painted red, holds the Things, and the Cat forbids the children to tamper with the fastening that keeps his world shut inside.

In The Cat in the Hat (2003), the lock Conrad picks on the Cat's container takes the form of which animal?

A crab is the shape of the lock, and once picked it clamps onto the dog's collar and gets carried away.

In The Cat in the Hat (2003), Thing 1 and Thing 2 stall Joan and Larry by posing as what?

Police officers is the disguise the Things adopt once Larry has told Joan what is going on, though he soon races after the others anyway.

In The Cat in the Hat (2003), Larry Quinn falls into a gooey abyss of which color inside the wrecked house?

Purple goo swallows Larry when the house turns into a surreal mess, yet he turns up again at the end, merely coated in it.

Hank Humberfloob, Joan's quick-to-fire boss in The Cat in the Hat (2003), has an extreme fear of what?

Germs terrify Humberfloob, and the same actor who plays him also speaks for the family's talking fish.

Which Will & Grace star both plays Joan's boss and voices the talking fish in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Sean Hayes recorded the fish alone in a sound booth, without knowing how the animated character would finally look.

Which Simpsons voice actor supplies the gibbering voices of Thing 1 and Thing 2 in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Dan Castellaneta, the voice of Homer Simpson, speaks for both Things, who were played on set by child performers in prosthetic masks and wigs.

Which Home Improvement star was first in line to play the Cat but left The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Tim Allen pictured a man who turns into a cat like a werewolf, but filming The Santa Clause 2 forced him to drop out.

Which production designer of Edward Scissorhands made his directing debut with The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Bo Welch was offered the job in a phone call from the producer; reviews were harsh, though Roger Ebert praised the production design.

Which Imagine Entertainment co-founder, an Oscar winner for A Beautiful Mind, produced The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Brian Grazer said he would do anything to film the Seuss stories he grew up with, having already brought one of them to the screen.

Which studio bought the film rights to The Cat in the Hat in 1996 and later released the 2003 film overseas?

DreamWorks won the rights after Steven Spielberg and screenwriter Eric Roth made several trips to La Jolla to win over the Seuss family.

Which makeup artist, an Oscar winner for An American Werewolf in London, quit The Cat in the Hat (2003) early?

Rick Baker walked away after clashes with the studio and a star who came late to makeup tests, and one of his first apprentices took over.

On outdoor shoots for The Cat in the Hat (2003), what was connected by hose to the Cat suit between takes?

An air conditioner fed cool air into the suit through a hose on hot outdoor shoots, while battery packs worked the Cat's ears and tail.

Co-star Amy Hill said an assistant on The Cat in the Hat (2003) carried a tub of what for the star?

Chocolates were handed over one piece at a time whenever he asked, said Hill, who called the whole shoot nightmarish.

The Cat in the Hat (2003) got its star through a settlement over a cancelled film of which sketch?

Sprockets was his television talk-show sketch; the film version, titled Dieter, was cancelled in 2000 because he was unhappy with his own script.

The three credited screenwriters of The Cat in the Hat (2003) had all written for which hit 1990s sitcom?

Seinfeld was where all three writers had worked together; they were hired in 2001 to replace an earlier draft, and critics went on to complain of adult jokes.

The screenwriters of The Cat in the Hat (2003) pitched it as a child-friendly version of which teen comedy?

Ferris Bueller's Day Off was the comparison writers David Mandel and Alec Berg used in their pitch, promising a version of it that was safe for children.

Songs by which Toy Story songwriter were dropped from The Cat in the Hat (2003) before his cousin scored it?

Randy Newman's songs were judged not good enough, so his cousin David wrote the score and two other writers supplied new songs.

Marc Shaiman and Scott Wittman, songwriters for The Cat in the Hat (2003), wrote the score of which Broadway musical?

Hairspray had opened on Broadway only the year before, and one of the pair's songs for the Cat, Fun, Fun, Fun, earned a Worst Song nomination.

Which cinematographer, later a three-time Oscar winner for films including Gravity, shot The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Emmanuel Lubezki later won three Oscars in a row, for Gravity, Birdman and The Revenant, the first cinematographer ever to do so.

The Cat in the Hat (2003) earned eight Golden Raspberry nominations in a year when which film swept the top prizes?

Gigli swept all six major categories, leaving the Cat with a single win, for Worst Excuse for an Actual Movie.

Which veteran voice of Scooby-Doo's Fred Jones provides the family dog's sounds in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Frank Welker, who has voiced Fred since 1969, supplied the pet's voice, while on screen the animal was played by a dog called Bugsy.

Which star of reality show The Simple Life has a cameo as a club-goer in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Paris Hilton turns up in a nightclub scene of this children's film, which opened in theaters eleven days before her reality show first aired.

Which child actor, Bruce Willis's young co-star in Disney's The Kid, plays Conrad in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Spencer Breslin plays the troublemaking older brother, and a year later acted alongside his own sister Abigail in Raising Helen.

Which Jerry Maguire actress plays Joan, the mother hosting an office party, in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Kelly Preston got the part after Peri Gilpin had to withdraw because filming clashed with her sitcom Frasier.

What surname do Sally, Conrad and their mother Joan share in the 2003 film The Cat in the Hat?

Walden is the family's surname in the film, which also gives a first name, Conrad, to the brother the book leaves unnamed.

In which fictional city do Sally and Conrad live in the 2003 live-action film The Cat in the Hat?

Anville was physically built: 24 houses went up in a rural California valley to form the neighborhood seen on screen.

What is the name of the babysitter who sleeps through nearly all the chaos in The Cat in the Hat (2003)?

Mrs. Kwan dozes off early on, and later the Cat and the children ride her through the wrecked house while she is still asleep.

Which Three Amigos star, considered for the lead of The Cat in the Hat (2003), later voiced the Cat on PBS Kids?

Martin Short voiced the Cat in The Cat in the Hat Knows a Lot About That!, an animated series that began in 2010.