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www.postmagazine.com 21 POST DECEMBER 2018 THE GRINCH W hen Chris Meledandri set out to create the CG animated fea- ture The Grinch, based on the popular holiday tale, his artists and animators at Illumination went by the book — Dr. Seuss' children's book "How the Grinch Stole Christmas!," that is. Meledandri and his longtime co-producer, Janet Healy, along with his talented crew at Illumination, were heading into familiar territory for this project. First, they have found great suc- cess with endearing antisocial-like characters via their Despicable Me franchise. Second, they were breathing new life into a well-known story that started with a book in the late '50s, followed by a traditionally animated TV special that still airs yearly during the Christmas season, and, later, by a live-action film. In addition, this project marks Illumination founder/CEO Meledandri's third go at adapting the uniquely styled Seuss books into a CG feature (2008's Horton Hears a Who! while at Fox and 2012's The Lorax at Illumination). On the other hand, they would have the daunting task of expanding a 69-page book filled with unique visuals and rhyming verse. "I grew up with the won- derful Chuck Jones [TV special]. That design was so wonderful. We didn't want to just do an iteration of that. So, we went back to the book and used that as the starting point, the DNA, of how we would ex- pand the story," says Yarrow Cheney, who co-direct- ed The Grinch along with Scott Mosier. Every Who down in Whoville liked Christmas a lot... But the Grinch, who lived just north of Whoville, did not! Illumination expanded on the Dr. Seuss design language for the characters, locations and main story points: The people of Whoville embrace and celebrate the spirit, joy and togetherness of the hol- iday season, but Grinch, who lives atop Mt. Crumpet outside of the town, detests the holiday and ev- erything associated with it, and enlists the help of his loyal dog, Max, to steal the Whos' presents and decorations, and quell the holiday spirit in Whoville once and for all. For the feature-length Grinch, the filmmakers extended what was essentially a one-act play into a three-act structure, delving deeper into some characters, especially Grinch and his backstory, while retaining the book's timeless elements. In the film, Grinch (Benedict Cumberbatch) is a com- plex character, more mischievous and cranky than cruel. He lives in isolation with his best friend, a dog named Max, but he does see the townsfolk time to time when he has venture into Whoville for supplies. Like every year, Christmastime strikes a nerve with him, and when he learns that the Whos are planning a bigger, brighter and louder celebration this year, well, he reaches his breaking point and hatches a plan to steal Christmas. Of course, an expanded story means more char- acters and environments that are new to the tale while seamlessly fitting within the original world. "We set out to create the most spectacular sort of Seuss-like world," says Mosier. We visit inside Grinch's expansive cave, complete with its Seussian- like inventions. We are introduced to Bricklebaum (Kenan Thompson), Grinch's perpetually cheery neighbor who resides at the bottom of the moun- tain, and Fred, a portly, lackadaisical reindeer that Grinch needs to pull his getaway sleigh. Meanwhile, the tiny hamlet of Whoville has been turned into a bustling city filled with shops and restaurants, a town square, and so forth — a place viewers would want to visit, Mosier adds. And, we learn more about the Whos — inhab- itants with real-life struggles. Take Cindy-Lou (Cameron Seely), whose role has been extended far beyond her previous few minutes on Christmas Eve. In this version, she is still a child, but now older than a toddler "not more than two." She and her friends plan to corner Santa as he makes his rounds and ask him not for more toys, but to help her over- worked, single mother, Donna. "It was time to bring this story back for a new generation and for people who have loved it for years and years," Mosier says. "I was excited and terrified all at the same time, though. This is the kind of thing you can't screw up." In a nutshell, they had to keep the tale relevant for a new, modern audience, while maintaining the essence of what made it a beloved classic. That involved translating the visual style of the book's drawings using cutting-edge computer graphics — no simple task. However, Illumination embraced the challenge, immersing viewers in this unique world while giving it an Illuminationesque-Seussian aesthetic. "Stylistically, we tried to honor the source ma- terial and take all of that wonderful stylization and apply it to a three-dimensional world where you really feel immersed," says Cheney. "We wanted you to almost feel the snow crunch under your feet and smell the waffles at the waffle stand. We wanted to evoke all the good things about the holidays that we can all relate to." Characters Big and Small The artists used a combination of commercial and proprietary software to create the film's CG characters, including Autodesk's Maya, along with Pixologic's ZBrush for modeling, Maya for anima- tion, in-house software for rendering and lighting, and Foundry's Nuke for compositing. When designing the unique characters, the artists avoided using straight lines, according to Meledandri. "Everywhere we could replace a straight line with a curve, we did, because these were motifs from [Dr. Seuss'] work," he adds. The latest Grinch film is expanded, which means lots of extra characters and environments.