Here’s How Mike Myers Ruined Dr. Seuss Live-Action Movies
Ever notice that there hasn’t been a live-action Dr. Seuss movie in more than 20 years? Sure, there are plenty of animated adaptations, but real actors making Seuss magic were officially forbidden by Audrey Geisel, the wife of the late Theodore, more popularly known as Dr. Seuss. The reason for the ban can be summed up in two words: Mike Myers.
The problem was 2003’s The Cat in the Hat, the critically reviled adaptation that starred Myers. He wasn’t the first choice for the role (a Tim Allen movie, believe it or not, was in the works), but once he signed on, the project took on his adolescent sense of humor, including the Cat shaking what his mama gave him in a coconut bra.
“I never saw Austin Powers, but I knew ‘Yeah, baby!’ and I didn’t want ‘Yeah, baby!’ at all,” Audrey Geisel told Today in 2004 while imitating Myers’ character in disgust. (She passed away in 2018.)
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Myers was responsible for some decidedly non-Seussian humor in the film, according to Instagram account Did You Catch This?. In one deleted scene, Thing 1 and Thing 2 cooked up a scheme to keep the children’s mother from returning to the house. It’s a simple plan — Thing 1 drinks a mountain of bottled water. The resulting torrent of Thing urine floods the town, keeping Mother’s car from crossing a bridge back to her home. Hop on Pop, this ain’t.
“He was (my) last choice (to play the Cat),” Audrey told San Diego Magazine in 2004. “He did just what I thought he would do. I know exactly where he came into it and said, ‘Let’s do this,’ and ‘Let’s do that.’ And it’s just recently I feel I’m getting my Cat out of the litter box.”
That wasn’t always the plan. On the day the original film was released, Myers announced that he hoped to star in a sequel based on Dr. Suess’ The Cat in the Hat Comes Back. No thanks, said the family. While it was open to animated adaptations like Horton Hears a Who (which did get made), there would be no more Mike Myers.
It couldn’t have helped that Myers was a pain in the ass on the set as well. “It was just a horrible, nightmarish experience,” costar Amy Hill told A.V. Club. “I don’t think he got to know anybody. He’d just be with his people and walk away. … There was a guy who held his chocolates in a little Tupperware. Whenever he needed chocolate, he’d come running over and give him a chocolate. That’s what divas are like, I guess. Or people who need therapy.”
The whole experience soured Audrey Geisel on Hollywood. “I don’t think we’re going to do another live-action,” she sniffed at the prospect of working with Myers ever again.
