USA: Dr. Seuss' "Horton Hears A Who!" cast including Jim Carrey, and Steve Carell talk about co-star Carol Burnett's influence on them as comedians at the film's Los Angeles premiere

Record ID: 219492

  • Title: USA: Dr. Seuss' "Horton Hears A Who!" cast including Jim Carrey, and Steve Carell talk about co-star Carol Burnett's influence on them as comedians at the film's Los Angeles premiere
  • Date: 12th March 2008
  • Summary: LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA, UNITED STATES (MARCH 8, 2008) (REUTERS) WIDE OF ARRIVALS AT DR. SEUSS' "HORTON HEARS A WHO!" PREMIERE WIDE OF MOVIE POSTERS JIM CARREY TALKING TO FANS MOVIE POSTER STEVE CARELL WAVING CAROL BURNETT WAVING CARREY SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) JIM CARREY, WHO PORTRAYS HORTON IN THE FILM, SAYING: "Well you know (Dr. Seuss') 'Green Eggs and Ham', all that stuff, it's so clear in my mind. As a kid, when I read that, when I was read that, well, I thought to myself, well, there is no limitation to imagination. You can do whatever you want. There is no limits to it all so Dr. Seuss was the first kind of hint of childhood alternative. It's childhood punk." BURNETT SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) CAROL BURNETT, WHO PORTRAYS KANGAROO IN THE FILM, ON JIM CARREY, SAYING: "He wrote me a letter when he was ten years old and I wish I had gotten it because wouldn't that have been fun to have Jim Carrey at ten be a regular with Tim (Conway) and Harvey (Korman) and Vicki (Lawrence), and Lyle (Waggoner) that would have been a hoot. But unfortunately I never got the letter and he got what he said was a very sweet rejection from CBS. (Reporter: How is Jim Carrey in the film?) He is brilliant and Steve Carell as the mayor of Whoville there are just great. I am so proud to be a part of it." (SOUNDBITE) (English) JIM CARREY ON CAROL BURNETT SAYING: "Oh yes I was after her big time. I am a bit of a barge. When I was ten I wanted in and I sent her a letter and informed her I did 150 impressions and these routines. I was spending a lot of time in my bedroom when I could have been playing sports. But you know I just got a rejection letter back but the letter never got to her. But just having a letter come from Hollywood to me at that time was just the most exciting thing in the world. It was Christmas morning. It was wonderful." VARIOUS OF WIDE OF CARPET (SOUNDBITE) (English) STEVE CARELL, WHO PORTRAYS THE MAYOR OF WHOVILLE IN THE FILM ON CAROL BURNETT, SAYING: "Here is the thing. I never got to work with Carol Burnett while we were doing this. But I got to go on a promotional junket thing. I got to sit next to her on a plane. It's the type of thing you pinch yourself all the way through. Because you are sitting next to Carol Burnett. She is this legend. She is this icon somebody I have always looked up to and loved. It's so nice when someone actually turns out to all of your expectations of them are realized and more. She is incredibly kind wonderful person as you will see when you meet her. She is the best." JAMIE PRESSLEY SPEAKING TO REPORTER (SOUNDBITE) (English) JAMIE PRESSLEY, WHO PORTRAYS MRS. QUILLIGAN IN THE FILM ON CAROL BURNETT, SAYING: "I would run home from school get my homework done as quick as possible so that I could, so that I was allowed if I finished my homework, to watch the Carol Burnett show that I think came on at 6pm. I would eat my dinner in front of the TV which now everybody is like 'that's terrible' I thought it was the greatest thing in the entire world. Because I was sitting there eating my spaghetti or whatever it was watching Carol Burnett. You know her little (nuances- touches ear) everything. (Tim) Conway and all the great people that were a part of that show she is just brilliant and of course one of the most famous skits from the carol Burnett show was the "Gone With the Wind" where she came out wearing the drapes. I dream about that I'll never forget it and it's so amazing to be a part of a film that she is in but also I play her sidekick. I was like what?" CARREY SPEAKING TO REPORTERS WIDE OF CARPET VARIOUS UNIDENTIFIED FILM LOCATIONS
  • Embargoed: 27th March 2008 12:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Usa
  • Country: USA
  • Reuters ID: LVAAY3EQ1MZI072RLTYVQF8NTZGR
  • Story Text: Comedy giants Jim Carrey and Steve Carell bring to life Dr. Seuss' classic "Horton Hears A Who" and premiered their new film in Los Angeles, California on Saturday (March 8).

    "'Green Eggs and Ham' all that stuff, it's so clear in my mind," Carrey told Reuters on the arrival line. "When I read that, when I was read that, well, I thought to myself, well, there is no limitations to imagination. You can do whatever you want. There is no limits to it all so Dr. Seuss was the first kind of hint of childhood alternative. It's childhood punk."
    Carol Burnett plays the Kangaroo and Jamie Pressley plays Mrs.
    Quilligan in the adaptation by "Ice Age" co-directors Jimmy Hayward and Steve Martino, who felt that the Seuss universe, previously done in live action by 2000's "How the Grinch Stole Christmas" with Carrey and 2003's "The Cat in the Hat" with Mike Myers is better served by animation.

    "He wrote me a letter when he was ten years old and I wish I had gotten it," Burnett said of Carrey. "Because wouldn't that have been fun to have Jim Carrey at ten be a regular with Tim and Harvey and Vicki (Lawrence), and Lyle, that would have been a hoot. But unfortunately I never got the letter and he got what he said was a very sweet rejection from CBS. He is brilliant and Steve Carell as the mayor of Whoville there are just great. I am so proud to be a part of it."
    The story is about an imaginative elephant named 'Horton', played by Carrey, who hears a faint cry for help coming from a tiny speck of dust floating through the air. Carrey was quite imaginative himself at the tender age of ten.

    "Oh yes I was after her big time. I am a bit of a barge. When I was ten I wanted in and I sent her a letter and informed her I did 150 impressions and these routines. I was spending a lot of time in my bedroom when I could have been playing sports. But you know I just got a rejection letter back but the letter never got to her. But just having a letter come from Hollywood to me at that time was just the most exciting thing in the world. It was Christmas morning. It was wonderful."
    The story continues as, although Horton doesn't know it yet, that speck houses an entire city named Who-ville, inhabited by the microscopic Whos, led by the Mayor played by Carell who is also a huge Burnett fan.

    "Here is the thing. I never got to work with Carol Burnett while we were doing this. But I got to on a promotional junket thing I got to sit next to her on a plane," Carell said. "It's the type of thing you pinch yourself all the way through. Because you are sitting next to Carol Burnett. She is this legend she is this icon somebody I have always looked up to and loved. It's so nice when someone actually turns out to all of your expectations of them are realized and more. She is incredibly kind wonderful person as you will see when you meet her. She is the best."
    Despite being ridiculed and threatened by his neighbors who think he has lost his mind, Horton is determined to save the particle…because "a person's a person no matter how small" the famous children book reads.
    "Horton Hears A Who!" will be released in the United States nationwide on Friday (March 14).
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
  • Copyright Notice: (c) Copyright Thomson Reuters 2011. Open For Restrictions - http://about.reuters.com/fulllegal.asp
  • Usage Terms/Restrictions: None
Register