The Cat in the Hat (movie)
Tim Allen was originally considered for the role of the Cat. The script was initially based on a version of the original book's story conceived by Allen, who admitted that as a child he was afraid of Seuss' "mischievous feline babysitter"; "My dream is to give it the edge that scared me," stated Allen. However, the studio did not commission a screenplay until late February 2001, when Alec Berg, David Mandel and Jeff Schaffer (best known for being writers on the television series Seinfeld) were hired by the studio to script the film (replacing the original draft of the film that was written a few years prior by Eric Roth), so the film would not be ready to shoot before the deadline. By this point, Allen was also committed to shooting Disney's The Santa Clause 2, which was also delayed because Allen wanted a script rewrite. Due to scheduling conflicts with that film, he dropped out of the role. As a result, in March 2002 the role of the Cat was given to Mike Myers, whom Grazer had an argument with regarding a proposed film adaptation of Myers' Saturday Night Live sketch Sprockets, which Myers cancelled in June 2000 after being dissatisfied with his own script for it. Myers stated in an interview that he was a long-time fan of the original Dr. Seuss book, and that it was the first book he ever read. In October 2002, Mike Myers, Dave Foley, Jay Kogen and Stephen Hibbert did an uncredited rewrites of the script.