To celebrate the launch of the first teaser trailer for Warner Bros.' The Cat in the Hat, the movie hosted a virtual press conference, moderated by Megan Cruz, with directors Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni and star Bill Hader. The group sat down to talk all about their animated film, which brings Dr. Seuss's original book to life in a unique way.
The movie takes a vastly different approach to the source material than the live-action 2003 movie with Mike Myers. This time, the adventure is animated and loaded with plenty of laughs—think something along the lines of Spider-Man: Into the Spider-Verse.
As expected, the story follows the Cat in the Hat and deep-dives into a wildly vivid, imaginative, rhyme-filled world straight out of Dr. Seuss' imagination.
At the press conference, director Alessandro Carloni admitted that "this book comes preloaded with a multi-generational fan base," which was "great" for them. However, that means that "there's a lot of generation out there who have expectations about this character and that love this character." Needless to say, there are some high expectations across the board.
When it came to nailing the perfect comedic tone for the movie, director Erica Rivinoja noted that they wanted to make something that was "really fun for literally the whole family," which includes "some sneaky stuff in there for adults" and plenty of "really funny physical humor for everyone." She credited the original man behind The Cat in the Hat, explaining that "Dr. Seuss had that sophisticated humor that worked on all levels."
Bill Hader spoke about his experience on the movie, which, according to the star, was just "so exhausting afterwards," because being in that voice recording booth is "essentially just screaming for four hours." The star joked, "They've watched me have a full-on existential crisis in the booth."
The Cat in the Hat debuted a brand-new trailer for the upcoming animated feature, which showcases Bill Hader's performance and the movie's take on Dr. Seuss' world. The full teaser can be seen below:
Warner Bros.' Cat in the Hat is scheduled to release on February 27, 2026. In the meantime, be sure to check out the latest news for Warner Bros' next big blockbuster: Superman.
Cat in the Hat Filmmakers on Finding the Perfect Comedy
There's Plenty for Both Kids and Adults to Find
At the virtual press conference, Cat in the Hat directors Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni discussed how they approached finding the perfect comedic tone for the film and how they positioned the entire movie for certain audiences.
Rivinoja made clear that they "wanted to make it really, really fun for literally the whole family," making sure to have fun that both kids and adults would enjoy:
Erica Rivinoja: I think the important part for [Alessandro] and I was, definitely, we wanted to make ourselves laugh with it. We have long histories in comedy, and I think a lot of people can think that, oh, it's children's, it's for children, so you have to talk down and make it not sophisticated and smart...
But we wanted to make it really, really fun for literally the whole family. There's some sneaky stuff in there for adults, there's really funny physical humor for everyone because everyone loves it. There's a lot of very classy fart jokes...
It was really just Dr. Seuss had that sophisticated humor that worked on all levels, and we just really wanted to reach into that and have really fun wordplay, but also, you know, it's animation... we really wanted to just make people laugh, and I think we did.
Carloni added that there was already a massive built-in fanbase for the movie thanks to the original book, which was both a good and incredibly daunting thing to think about:
Alessandro Carloni: What's interesting to me also is that, let's be honest, all of us are working many different projects and we always tell ourselves, and the studio tells ourselves, we want to make it for the whole family and four quadrants, and of course it's our job.
But this book, in a way, came preloaded with that in the sense that there are thousands of households right now where there's an eight-year-old boy being read by the story from mom, and mom was read the story in the 80s from grandma, and grandma was read the story from great grandma in the 60s.
So this book comes preloaded with a multi-generational fan base, which is great for us. At the same time, it's extremely daunting, which means there's a lot of generation out there who have expectations about this character and that love this character. So, hopefully we'll make them all proud.
Bill Hader on Bringing His SNL Skills to the Role & What Dr. Seuss Means to Him
"They've Watched Me Have a Full-On Existential Crisis In the Booth..."
Bill Hader voices the titular Cat in the Hat. One question in the press conference was whether he used his Saturday Night Live (SNL) skills (in which there was an actual Cat in the Hat sketch) while working on this film.
Hader admitted that his overall experience on SNL did inform some of what he was able to do, mostly when it came to improv, something he was able to sneak in at times for The Cat in the Hat:
Bill Hader: Well, yeah, I mean maybe a little just because they were so loose with—they wrote this incredibly funny script and So you didn't have you know, sometimes you do these things and you're like, oh man I gotta like really improvise a lot and try to make it work somehow but this was not like that. The script was like so insanely funny...
And then on top of that, they were like, yeah, try stuff. So there was some little improvs here and there... It was funny. I would improvise sometimes, and you could just see them go, let's do another one. Let's do one as written, yeah, because it would go too far off.
Because it's weird because they have it in their heads and I'm just reacting to the words and you know so you try a lot of things and but they're very good at communicating like okay you know here's what the scene is and here's the emotion of it and here's what we need to try to convey and So, but as far as SNL, yeah, I guess that kind of like taking the material and then like improvising on top of it, you know, maybe.
The veteran actor also spoke about the challenges of voicing an animated feature, which he described as "actually so exhausting afterwards, because you're essentially just screaming for four hours:"
Hader: People think like, oh, we're all out of bed, and you get to go and voice a cartoon and animate a movie, and it's really easy. It's actually so exhausting afterwards, because you're essentially just screaming for four hours. And then you're saying the same lines over and over again, and they just start to lose meaning.
And then you kind of, they've watched me have a full-on existential crisis in the booth. And they're like, all right, we're all just going to leave. Just kind of leave me in the booth. They turn the lights off, and I just sit there. No. But no, but it yeah, that's the only thing is, I just I have to very consciously pace myself because you do get so tired just screaming.
Bill Hader also talked about what Dr. Seuss' work, and Cat In the Hat specifically, meant to him, noting that he "remember[s] [Cat In the Hat] being [his] first book"—a tradition he's made sure to share with his own kids:
Hader: I think the biggest thing was, I just remember ['Cat In the Hat] being the first book. I'm a big reader, and I think those were the first books I remember. Reading on my own, you know and just taking into you know, it's a habit I had; I get in bed and you read a book, And it's like I started that with those books and I remember collecting them...
I had, you know, seeing the binding [on the] side and just you know, having those all up, you know my room and, so, yeah, that's like the beginning of that process as a kid and then you now see my kids have that and then you know you get up to young adult books and then fear of flying, that book, but no, so yeah.
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