Horton Hears a Who!

Horton Hears a Who! is a children's book written and illustrated by Theodor Seuss Geisel under the pen name Dr. Seuss and was published in 1954 by Random House.

It is the second Dr. Seuss book to feature Horton the Elephant, the first being Horton Hatches the Egg. The Whos would later make a reappearance in How the Grinch Stole Christmas!.

Plot

The book tells the story of Horton the Elephant, who, while splashing in a pool, hears a small speck of dust talking to him. Horton surmises that a small person lives on the speck and places it on a clover, vowing to protect it. He later discovers that the speck is actually a tiny planet, home to a community called Whoville, where microscopic creatures called Whos live. The Mayor of Whoville asks Horton to protect them from harm, which Horton happily agrees to, proclaiming throughout the book that "a person’s a person, no matter how small."

In his mission to protect the speck, Horton is ridiculed and harassed by the other animals in the jungle for believing in something that they are unable to see or hear. He is first criticized by a sour kangaroo and her little kangaroo in her pouch. The splash they make as they jump into the pool almost catches the speck, so Horton decides to find somewhere safer for it. However, news of his odd new behavior spreads quickly, and he is soon harassed by a group of monkeys. They steal the clover from him and give it to Vlad Vladikoff, a vulture (formerly a black eagle). Vlad flies the clover a long distance, Horton in pursuit, until the eagle drops it into a field of clovers.

Steve Carell

Steven John "Steve" Carell (/kəˈrɛl/; born August 16, 1962) is an American actor, comedian, director, producer and writer. After a five–year stint on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart, Carell found greater fame for playing Michael Scott on the American version of The Office, on which he also worked as an occasional writer and director. He has also starred in lead roles in the films The 40-Year-Old Virgin (2005), Get Smart (2008), Crazy, Stupid, Love (2011), The Incredible Burt Wonderstone and The Way, Way Back (both 2013). Carell has also voiced characters in the animated films Over the Hedge (2006), Horton Hears a Who! (2008), Despicable Me (2010) and Despicable Me 2 (2013). Carell was nominated as "America's funniest man" in Life magazine, and received a Golden Globe Award Best Actor in a Television Series for his work on The Office.

His dramatic role as wrestling coach and convicted murderer John Eleuthère du Pont in the 2014 film Foxcatcher earned him several awards and nominations including a nomination for the Academy Award for Best Actor. Carell also received acclaim for his roles in the comedy–dramas Little Miss Sunshine in 2006, and The Big Short in 2015, for which he was nominated for a Golden Globe.

Dr. Seuss

Theodor Seuss Geisel (/ˈsɔɪs/ ⁱ/ˈɡaɪzəl/; March 2, 1904 – September 24, 1991) was an American writer and illustrator best known for authoring popular children's books under the pen name Dr. Seuss (/suːs/). His work includes several of the most popular children's books of all time, selling over 600 million copies and being translated into more than 20 languages by the time of his death.

Geisel adopted his "Dr. Seuss" pen name during his university studies at Dartmouth College and the University of Oxford. He left Oxford in 1927 to begin his career as an illustrator and cartoonist for Vanity Fair, Life, and various other publications. He also worked as an illustrator for advertising campaigns, most notably for Flit and Standard Oil, and as a political cartoonist for the New York newspaper PM. He published his first children's book And to Think That I Saw It on Mulberry Street in 1937. During World War II, he worked in an animation department of the United States Army where he produced several short films, including Design for Death, which later won the 1947 Academy Award for Documentary Feature.

Jim Carrey

James Eugene "Jim" Carrey (/ˈkæri/; born January 17, 1962) is a Canadian American actor, comedian, impressionist, screenwriter, and film producer. He is known for his highly energetic slapstick performances.

Carrey first gained recognition in 1990 after landing a recurring role in the sketch comedy In Living Color. His first leading roles in major productions came with Ace Ventura: Pet Detective (1994), Dumb and Dumber (1994), The Mask (1994), and Ace Ventura: When Nature Calls (1995), as well as a supporting role in Batman Forever (1995) and a lead role in Liar Liar (1997). He then starred in The Truman Show (1998) and Man on the Moon (1999), with each garnering him a Golden Globe Award for Best Actor.

In the 2000s, he gained further recognition for his portrayal of the Grinch in How the Grinch Stole Christmas (2000), as well as Bruce Almighty (2003), Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind (2004), Lemony Snicket's A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004), Fun with Dick and Jane (2005), Yes Man (2008), Horton Hears a Who! (2008) and A Christmas Carol (2009).

Jimmy Hayward

James "Jimmy" Hayward (born September 17, 1970) is a Canadian-American film director, screenwriter and animator.

Life and career

Hayward was born in Kingston, Ontario. At a young age, Hayward began his career at Mainframe Entertainment animating and directing commercials, he was one of the original animators of the television series, ReBoot. Throughout his career he has worked at Pixar Animation Studios, 20th Century Fox and Blue Sky Studios, and was an animator for Toy Story, A Bug's Life, Toy Story 2, Monsters, Inc., and Finding Nemo. He was the sequence director and story consultant for Robots.

His studio directorial debut, Dr. Seuss' Horton Hears a Who! starring Jim Carrey and Steve Carell, had a worldwide gross of $297,138,014 (as of May 2009).

Hayward's first live-action film, Jonah Hex, was released in June 2010.

Hayward was also director and writer on an animated film Free Birds, starring Woody Harrelson, Owen Wilson and Amy Poehler, which was released in 2013 to unfavourable critical reception.