Meet the Cast of 'The Cat in the Hat'

The journey to The Cat in the Hat, the first feature-length film from Warner Bros. Pictures Animation, started with a simple question: Where does the Cat go when he's not bringing wonder, whimsy and - let's face it - a whole lot of chaos to the lives of the two children in the classic 1957 children's book?

For directors and screenwriters Erica Rivinoja and Alessandro Carloni, the answer to that question unlocked an entire universe of possibilities.

Per Erica Rivinoja, "Seuss Enterprises was really cool about letting us explore the idea of why does the Cat in the Hat do this? Why does he entertain children? And so, we landed on the idea that it's his job, and he actually works at this amazing place. We got to make the story of what his life is like outside of the book."

Enter the Institute for the Institution of Imagination and Inspiration, LLC (or just the I.I.I.I. for short). In the universe of the film, the organization is a sort of dispatch center that sends envoys to entertain children in their homes. It's here that the Cat, voiced by Bill Hader, works alongside an eccentric group of colleagues, including Quinta Brunson's Sherrie from HR, Bowen Yang's Gary the Intern and Giancarlo Esposito's Mr. Hoogeboom, the Cat's flat-as-a-pancake boss.

This film sees the Cat take on what might be his toughest assignment yet. Two children named Gabby and Sebastian (voiced by Xochitl Gomez and Tiago Martinez, respectively) are struggling to adjust to a new town after their mother, Carmen (America Ferrera), relocates the family for work. The siblings have left their friends and familiar surroundings behind. The I.I.I.I. assigns the Cat to their case, to lift their spirits. But his habit of taking things too far has put his own future in jeopardy: If he fails, he'll lose his magical hat.

The feature-length adventure also gives the filmmakers room to expand Dr. Seuss' world beyond the pages of the original book. The I.I.I.I. acts as a home base from which the Cat will explore multiple worlds, something that Alessandro Carloni called "a unique cinematic opportunity" to work with different styles of animation.

"Each world that our movie navigates-from the Seuss world, where the Cat comes from, to our real world, to the fantastical lands we're going to explore in the adventures we go through-is basically a completely different aesthetic, a completely different visual language we used to tell the story," he says.

The result is a much bigger world for the Cat, filled with new characters and some familiar faces. Ahead of the film's November 4 international release and November 6 North American release, the actors behind those characters introduce their animated counterparts in their own words.

Bill Hader as the Cat in the Hat

"It's an interesting movie, because you're wanting the Cat to succeed at his job, which is to cheer kids up. You learn more about the Cat's character, where he works, his personality, what he cares about, and then how he interacts with specifically these two kids. His job is not to make a mess out of things, but he just constantly makes a mess out of things."

"The Cat is really positive, but he's kind of thoughtless in the nicest possible way. His enthusiasm ends up leading to catastrophe. That was something as a kid that I always enjoyed and also related to. When they sat me down and showed me the opening of the movie and story reel in animated storyboards, I immediately was taken with it-they captured what I liked about the book, but it had its own irreverent humor."

Quinta Brunson as Sherrie from HR

"Sherrie is the one who is there for Cat. She's his best friend. Those two are thick as thieves, and she will do anything to protect him. He's always on the verge of losing his job. She wants him to keep it. If he loses it, they're not sure what kind of job he'd do. And she doesn't want to lose her best friend."

"I got to see the art renderings of Sherrie and all the material they had available before I started recording. I liked looking at Sherrie. What was really great was the directors and animators talking to me about how her neck moved. That informed how I said certain words, keeping in mind that her neck might be going around and around or up and down while she was saying it. That was a really fun acting challenge."

Bowen Yang as Gary the Intern

"Gary's the intern, and works as the supply closet sort of receptionist and gatekeeper. He is maybe given too much power and purview in his entry level role, but he is a 'nepo person,' as he likes to call himself, rather than a nepo baby, because he's mature, he thinks."

"He's kind of a foil to the Cat in terms of being completely unenthused about working at the four I's, completely. And the Cat loves his job. Loves. Gary's apathetic and doesn't care and knows that he's this entry level position. But as an intern, it's like he's getting paid and exposure for just being there. I think that's a valuable thing. I actually do commend Gary for putting on his pants in the morning and going into work. He's not doing it remotely. That's a lot more than some others can say."

America Ferrera as Carmen/The Mom

"I was excited by Erica and Alessandro's vision for the movie, and their enthusiasm for filling in Mom's backstory. She's upbeat and optimistic. I followed Erica and Alessandro's directions to make her fun. She's trying to carry her kids through an uncertain time of change, so she has to compensate by being too upbeat. I had fun leaning into her goofiness."

Xochitl Gomez as Gabby

"Gabby is a very complex character. She is going through probably something we have all gone through in our lives-she's dealing with a new move. She's dealing with new things that she's never dealt with before, entering a new home and a new town. She's just lost pretty much all her friends, and she's no longer in her marching band, which meant the world to her. Basically, she's feeling pretty bummy. So, it's up to the Cat to uplift her mood."

Tiago Martinez as Sebastian

"Gabby is feeling down and misses everything they left behind, and Sebastian is always trying to cheer her up. He misses the time they spent together. Gabby has moved on now and is kind of moody, and Sebastian's always trying to get her to play together again."

Matt Berry as Waffles the Goldfish

"Waffles is a fish in a bowl-a goldfish who can't be evicted, because he's a goldfish. And yeah, there's an interesting thing, that he's able to talk. How much oxygen does he need? Does he need any? There are different sorts of rules. How long can he survive without water? What happens when his water is solid, which we find out. What happens if he sullies his own water, which we also find out. He seems to be quite the sort of sober one of all of the characters. He's not impressed by an awful lot, especially the Cat."

Paula Pell as Patty

"I play Patty the landlady. And I'm a real pain in their patoots. I think the story is really fun and sweet, and the characters are well drawn, no pun intended. I love playing a person who seems like an enemy, but who goes through a transformation like Patty does. I've had plenty of funny yet annoying landlords and landladies in my life, so I drew from them and my own relatives' voices."