Mean and Green

An iconic grouch returns to the screen in an updated remake of a beloved Dr. Seuss classic.

Images courtesy of Illumination and Universal Pictures.

It’s been more than 50 years since Dr. Seuss’ beloved book, How the Grinch Stole Christmas!, was adapted for an animated holiday special. But now the Green Grouch will hit theaters once again on November 9th in Illumination and Universal Pictures’ The Grinch. Director Yarrow Cheney takes about revisiting the iconic character.

HOW DID YOU BEGIN TACKLING A STORY EVERYONE KNOWS AND MAKE IT FEEL FRESH?

It was very important to us to stay true to Dr. Seuss’ original story. So that’s where we began. From story to design, the book was the starting point for everything we did. We tried to make the world and characters feel current, but not dated. You’ll see Whos catch a triple-decker bus and Max take flight in a Grinch-designed drone.

For the film, we had to find ways to naturally expand the story, characters and setting. We had to go deeper into the characters: Why was Grinch the way he was? What was it about Christmas and the Whos that caused him so much pain?

For the world, we treated it as if Dr. Seuss’ drawings were based on a real place. But in the book, Who-ville was small, with just a few houses. For the film, we expanded Who-ville. We made it a bustling town filled with shops and cafés. We wanted it to be a wonderful place that would draw you in—a place you would want to spend the holidays.

YOU TAKE US INSIDE THE GRINCH’S HOME. CAN YOU TALK ABOUT THE DESIGN PROCESS?

We wanted to design a home for the Grinch that reflected who he was. He chose to self-isolate way up in a cave on a mountain. We chose to make his cave huge and cavernous to show how lonely he was. We liked the idea that the Grinch would have built living spaces into a naturally inhospitable cave. This reveals his ingenuity and allowed us to have a lot of fun figuring out how he would build a solitary life for himself where all he needed was his dog [Max], who also doubles as his butler. 

Also, the Grinch is a character who tends to go a little extreme. He overdoes it sometimes. Stealing Christmas is the ultimate example of this. So we designed his cave to reflect this aspect of his personality. He’s outfitted it with crazy ways to do everyday things and imaginative ways for he and Max to get around. He’s a little eccentric and that gave us lots of design opportunities that were character-based, like rigging his dumbwaiter so Max can deliver him coffee in bed.

His cave also tells us that he’s not just a first-degree, grumpy bad guy. He’s got the potential for warmth buried deep within him. This is reflected in his home—from the outside, it is a cold, dark, foreboding mountain but the deeper you go, the more you see cozy living spaces and the special care he takes for his only friend, Max.

THIS VERSION DELVES INTO THE GRINCH’S ORIGIN STORY. HOW DID YOU SETTLE ON THOSE DETAILS WHILE CHANNELING DR. SEUSS’ IMAGINATION?

In exploring the Grinch’s origin story, we had to ask ourselves why he’s the way he is. Why was his heart two-sizes too small? We know he’s a lonely, bitter guy who hates everything about Christmas—family, joy, togetherness and music. But why? Why would the holiday cause him so much pain? This lead us to tell a story of a lonely past, when a young Grinch didn’t know kindness or love, even though he could see it all around him. Because of this, Christmas became an acute source of pain for him—so painful that he would rather live inside a cold, lonely mountain than down with the Whos in Who-ville.

WHAT WERE SOME OF THE BIGGEST ARTISTIC CHALLENGES ON THE PRODUCTION?

Artistically, one of our biggest challenges was designing and building out the world. We wanted to capture the grandeur and beauty of a snowy alpine landscape. Who-ville would have to be warm and inviting to pull the audience in; and, because it’s Christmas time, it’s filled with lights, decorations and fuzzy Whos dressed in winter clothing. We really wanted to capture the richness of the Christmas season in a fun, but elegant way.

Fleshing out Who-ville and giving it a population boom allowed us to make the Grinch’s goal of stealing Christmas an epic challenge. We designed the town to be the last place anyone would attempt a Christmas heist because every street, house and living room was filled with lovely decorations and gifts. This forces the Grinch to be creative. Designing the heist and how exactly he’d accomplish this bigger-than-life task was a lot of fun!