The Lorax [2012]

I can see that, but from the storyboards it looked like he wa enjoying his new lifestyle even before throwing the switch, like with the cigars and the reading the paper segment.

How would you have storyboarded the song? o.o

With a pencil and paper.

We got a smart-aleck over here.

As a matter of fact, I don't have my own storyboards in mind for the song, but I do know someone who's written out how they envision the scene, and I really like it. Just asked them to resend me a copy and permission to post it. It's got some things pretty specific to their reimagining of the movie, but like 90% of it works generically. They're actually writing a whole, revised, Darker and Edgier script, but it's not done yet, so...

[Cut to a shot looking at the Onceler head on. He swivels his chair to the left.]

ONCELER: All according to plan, all according to plan. [He swivels his chair to the right.] And for a moment there, I really believed you didn't think of yourself as a cartoon villain. [He swivels his chair to the left.] So what if I'm lying to, and thereby destroying, the world? I'm rolling in money. [He swivels his chair to the right.] You're lying to and – you just admitted you were- [He swivels his chair to the center, where he looks mad-as-hell.] I'm not lying. [He swivels his chair to the right.] Yes, you are. [He swivels his chair to the center.] I'm saying the truth. I've never lied. [He swivels his chair to the right.] You're in denial. [He swivels his chair to the center and stands up.] I'm not in denial! [He swings a fist offscreen to the right. Pan to the right to reveal that he's just struck Ms. F. He suddenly realizes what he's done and looks horrified. Ms. F just shrugs it off.]

MS. F: Marvin K. Mooney just called. He wanted to thank you for bailing him out of that spat he'd gotten into.

ONCELER: Well, of course.

MS. F: He sent you some bizilbix as a symbol of his gratitude. [Ms. F piously bestows the Onceler with a blobby, but expensive-looking object. The Onceler turns and walks to his desk's roller-chair, which he sits on.]

ONCELER: Send him a thank you note. Make sure to tell him how unique his gift is. [Cut to a close-up of Onceler's pager, which buzzes, informing him that he's wanted in the security department. Cut to the Onceler. Instead of immediately answering his page, the Onceler takes a look at his new bizilbix. The camera pans down to reveal that he has an entire neatly-stacked pile of them. Music begins, and the song Biggering has started. He sets his new incremental symbol of his unique wealth down, but is deeply unsatisfied. What's the cost of all of this? Is the Lorax right? Pan back up.]

ONCELER: At first I didn't realize

I needed all this stuff

We had a little cottage

And that cottage was enough [Cloudy images of a younger Onceler and Collin, smiling and talking to each other (without audio), shortly after the first Thneed was made, fade in behind Onceler.]

A place where we could sit and knit

A place where we could sell our Thneeds [On the word “alone”, the images disappear, sending us back to reality, relatively.]

But now I've had some time alone

To reassess my needs [The camera begins pulling out.]

And I need a bigger office [All of the items in the Onceler's office fade to become larger, more expensive versions of themselves, except for the furniture.]

I need a bigger chair [The Onceler's chair similarly fades to become a very fancy, expensive chair. Not that he cares, because he immediately gets out of it. Cut to a shot from inside an elevator, where Ms. F is standing. The Onceler is walking towards the elevator. On the word “desk”, we can see his desk fade to a larger, more expensive version in the background of the shot. On the word “staff”, the Onceler has entered the elevator, and it immediately becomes more crowded when a crowd of new employees fades in next to him.]

A bigger desk, a bigger staff [The Onceler's hat fades to a much taller, more expensive one.]

A bigger hat to wear [The elevator doors close and it begins to descend.]

Because I'm biggering

EMPLOYEES: Yes, biggering! [We begin to slowly pull out to reveal that the elevator has a clear glass back, so we can actually see it descending on the side of the Onceler's corporate tower.]

ONCELER: I'm figgering on biggering [We pull out much more, to reveal a wide shot of Thneedville, with all of the buildings repeatedly fading to become taller, more modern, futuristic ones.]

And biggering

Is triggering

More biggering! [As the next part of the song starts, the backup becomes constant, and we cut to the Onceler being led into a room full of screens displaying live security feeds. He looks at one in particular.]

LORAX (unseen): Hey, listen up, meathead!

I'm gonna say this once

PROTESTERS (unseen): I'll say this once

LORAX (unseen): And I'm not gonna repeat it!

PROTESTERS (unseen): Beat it! [Cut to a shot zooming in on one of the security feeds. It displays the Lorax, who is very, very distressed, and quite a bit angry, too, but mostly trying to get the Onceler's attention. He is surrounded by a small group of protesters – only the most courageous ones who were willing to go against Onceler's mandate. Each one is holding a handmade sign urging the Onceler to stop.]

LORAX: Greed, see, it's like a little pet?

PROTESTERS : It's like a little pet!

LORAX: Alright? [Cut to an actual shot of the Lorax, in person. The camera constantly moving slowly in a straight line away from him. He leads one of the invasive-species dogs towards him and feeds it for demonstration, causing it to become madly hungry for more.] And the more and more and more that you go and feed it

PROTESTERS: And the more and more you feed it

LORAX AND PROTESTERS: The more hungry it'll get [Cut to a different shot of the Lorax, the camera constantly moving slowly towards him. He gestures the dog away from him, and it obeys – he is, after all, the Lorax, and the dog is, after all, part of nature, even if it's not supposed to be part of this region.]

But, you know, you really can't blame greed

LORAX: No, that's stupid

You see, it's gotta worm inside. [He opens one of his hands to reveal one of the parasitic worms.]

PROTESTERS: It's gotta worm inside!

LORAX: Oh yeah, that's right. [Cut to a much closer shot of the Lorax, the camera constantly moving slowly away from him. He drops a small piece of Truffula tuft on the worm and it instantly burrows straight in to eat.]

That's one that always needs to feed and is never satisfied

PROTESTERS: It always needs to feed and is never satisfied!

LORAX: Get it? [The camera cuts to a further-out shot that is constantly moving slowly towards the Lorax. The Lorax is trying to shake the worm out of the tuft, but it remains invisible. All the protesters softly back him up, but one of the protesters, a tall, thin, young black man, provides a wailing, despairing backup that is particularly noticeable.]

But the more you try to find it

The more it likes to hide. Now listen. [Cut to a much closer shot of the Lorax that is constantly moving slowly away from the Lorax.]

That is a nasty little worm

I like to call it pride [The Lorax lets out a tiny, bitter laugh, happy that he's come to such a massive realization, but horrified at what's happened and rightly doubtful that it'll change the Onceler's mind.]

See? Now that's why you're biggering! [The camera continues to pull out to reveal that the Lorax is surrounded by construction equipment, making a wall for Thneedville.]

PROTESTERS: You're biggering!

LORAX: Listen here, idiot!

PROTESTERS: And biggering!

LORAX AND PROTESTERS: And figgering on biggering!

But that biggering's

Just triggering

More biggering! [Cut to a much closer shot of the Lorax, this one static.]

LORAX: Got that? [A giant dirt-scooper on a crane lands immediately next to the Lorax and picks up a scoop-full of dirt, startling him and providing him with his answer.] ....Alright. [Cut to several epic, sweeping shots of The Lorax, out in the ever-decaying, pitch-black wasteland, leading out Humming Fish in Biblical proportions. Finally cut back to the Lorax in the construction site, resigned that the Onceler isn't going to change. He sadly waves, and we pull backwards to remind us that the Lorax's monologue was broadcast to the Onceler by security camera – we're on a panel full of different feeds, and as we continue to pull out, the Lorax's feed takes up an ever-smaller percentage of the screen. We cut to a close-up of the Onceler, burying his head in his hands, and the music dies as we zoom into his head and fade to black to simulate the same thing for the viewer. The image suddenly reappears, the music suddenly starts back up, and the Onceler is mad as hell, and he's not going to take it any more. In an instant, his anger at himself is redirected into anger towards the Lorax for making him feel this way. He slams on a button and shouts something we don't hear into a microphone. Cut to a shot of dozens of identical boots hitting pavement in unison. Then cut to a shot of the Lorax and his fellow protesters, suddenly surrounded by the Thneedville security force, a blue-uniformed team armed with electric batons and ambiguously lethal firearms. In several shots featuring no sound effects or dialogue, just very aggressive music, it is established exactly how abusive they are- all of the protesters are roundly beaten, forced to the ground, shouted at, and dragged away, never getting a chance to fight back. Then cut back to the Onceler, who begins to smile just a bit. He's sitting in his new, bigger chair, at his new, bigger desk. He picks up a book labeled “On The Origins Of Species by Charles Darwin”, and we cut to a further-out-shot of his entire new, bigger office. He dances around the room while holding the book and reading from it. His lies to himself and others have crystallized into an ideology that he now truly believes in. He has never been emptier than this, but he believes that he has never been happier than this or more enlightened. Cut to the Onceler standing in front of a window. He puts the book down and suddenly begins singing once again, this time reaffirmed in his righteousness.]

ONCELER: There is a principle of nature

That most every creature knows

It's called survival of the fittest

And this is how it goes [He gestures out the window towards the wasteland he's made of nature, and we cut to two Barbaloots, both left behind, fighting over a single fruit in the middle of a fallen Tuft.]

The animal that wins

Has got to

Claw and bite and kick and punch [A shadow advances towards the two, but they don't notice.]

The animal that doesn't winds up

someone else's lunch [On the word “else's”, some of the rotary-blade-mandibles of one of the locusts come out of the side of the screen, presumably about to kill the two Barbaloots. Before that can happen, on the word “lunch”, we cut to a close-up of the Onceler's face, and there's a brief silence. When the next verse starts, we pull out to reveal that he's riding one of the Locusts. He throws his book backwards over his shoulder, and the shot orbits the Locust that the Onceler's riding, varying between quick bursts of high-speed orbit and slower stretches of relatively slower orbiting.]

A company's an animal

EMPLOYEES (voiceover) Animal!

ONCELER: That's trying to survive

EMPLOYEES (voiceover) Survival!

ONCELER: It's struggling, and fighting

EMPLOYEES (voiceover) Fighting!

ONCELER: Just to keep itself alive!

EMPLOYEES (voiceover) Keep itself alive!

ONCELER: I must keep biggering [The orbiting shot suddenly and extremely pulls out, to reveal several more Locusts around the Onceler's.]

I'm figgering on biggering! [It pulls out yet more, to reveal nearly a hundred Locusts – note that they're only somewhat acting in unison. They're also somewhat chaotic and random in their patterns and paths – adding to the Onceler's “animal” metaphor, but not in a good way. Cut to a much closer shot of the Onceler on his Locust, looking back at Thneedville.]

Though biggering

is triggering [The shot refocuses to show several additional Locusts climbing down out of Thneedville, using Thneedville's new wall.]

more biggering! [Cut to an extreme closeup of Onceler's face.]

ONCELER AND EMPLOYEES: I won't stop! [Cut to Onceler standing at a podium, at the front of the shot at the center of the screen. Behind him we can see his Thneed factory, full of workers operating the giant, intricate machines. There's a red poster on the left side of the screen, “AT THNEEDCO WE'RE ALWAYS BIGGERING”, and a black poster on the right side of the screen, “AT THNEEDCO WE DON'T STOP BIGGERING”. At the bottom of the screen, on both sides of the Onceler, new Thneeds are being pumped into delivery trucks. At the very center of the screen, there's a giant sign with the number of total Thneeds sold, constantly rolling up to new numbers – it's well past anything reasonable by now.]

ONCELER: Biggering!

I'm figgering on biggering!

And biggering is triggering more biggering!

With the customers are buying and the money's multiplying and the PR people lying and the lawyers are denying! [A giant flaming gavel crashes down behind the Onceler, sweeping away all of the scenery except for him and his podium, replacing it with a desolate wasteland scene – a small number of starving, sick animals left behind at the front of the shot, and Locusts in the horizon leaving in search of more Truffula Trees.]

Who cares if

Some things are dying? [Cut to the Onceler in his office, talking to the empty space to his left, as he did in the earlier scenes where he was talking to himself.]

EMPLOYEES (voiceover): I won't stop biggering!

ONCELER: I don't wanna hear you crying! [The Onceler gets out of his chair and walks towards a window.]

EMPLOYEES (voiceover): I won't stop biggering! [Cut to an orbiting and pulling-out shot of the Onceler's corporate tower. The Onceler reaches outwards towards nothing in particular – or everything – with his green-gloved arms, a savage parody of the standard ending outreach of the hero's I-Want-Song. The shot is carefully designed so we never see anything of him but his arms – just like in the 1972 special.]

ONCELER: This is all so gratifying! [The music trails out and we continue to pull out, seeing the entire increasingly miserable state of the world. The shot stops moving as complete silence and stillness are reached, with a few tiny token details continuing to move throughout Thneedville to let the audience know that the frame has not frozen.]

edited 5th Aug '13 9:03:23 AM by DAStudent

I like that! It suits the darker, cerebral toen of the song.

How Bad Can I Be was good, but it felt like things happened too fast.

Watched the TV special and read the book again after watching the movie, and picked up on something fridge horror-y and sadly very true.

The TV special has the Once-ler arguing with himself about destroying the Truffula Trees, and eventually he rationalizes that if he didn't do it someone else would.

Yet another note of moral ambiguity cut out by the awful awful movie.

Yikes. :(

Maybe the Once-ler is related to a Snuv from oh the Thinks you can Think. There was a passage about Snuvs and their gloves, and in the book the Once-ler's glove is called a Snuvv.

I dunno. XD

I am so ashamed to admit I recently watched this movie just for this Once-ler that I've seen so much fanart for. Don't get me wrong, I enjoyed the movie almost as much as the original Dr. Seuss book and the songs were fairly catchy (especially that unused Biggering song).

Just saw the movie. I thought it was really cool. Loved "how bad can I be", even if it did rush his character development. Seeing the video on youtube is actually what made me go to amqzon to watch the full thing.

The Once-ler seems like a weird name. For one thing, that means his first name is 'The'. Wtf? Everybody else seen has relatively normal names except The Once-ler.

Random thought about Seuss-verse. From Horton Hears A Who, we see the Whos on a microscopic speck. Is that where all the Whos are and Whos are just a naturally microscopic species? So that means How The Grinch Stole Christmas also took place on that tiny speck?

Grinch stole Christmas I think took place on a snowflake.

To the best of my memory, yeah.

But I read that a snowflake forms around a speck of dust, so it could be that very same speck of dust!

But then I wonder, does that mean that anyone who crosses over with the Grinch or the Whos must also be microscopic? Were the Cat in the Hat and everyone he ever interacted with that small due to "The Grinch Grinches the Cat in the Hat"?

Best not to think too hard about something like that.

Interesting. Where did it say it took place on a snowflake.

As for Cat In The Hat, I don't see why not. Those could be Who children that he entertained.

At the beginning of the special, it zoom in on a snowflake(IIRC).

Heh, Frosty Returns started with the narrator riding a snowflake. Maybe he was an evil giant, trampling the Who world.

It's a Meaningful Name. Dr. Seuss was fond of those. It represents his destructive business philosophy of trying to make a huge profit once rather than renewing the resources he uses to make smaller profits continuously and avoid causing irreparable harm to the environment.

The Lorax and the Once-ler are the only characters named by Seuss, which is why their names stand out. Ted is the only other character from the film who's in the book and he's deliberately unnamed there so as to be an Audience Surrogate. Everything about the town and O'Hare is Adaptation Expansion, while the book ends when he receives the seed, before he even plants it.

edited 27th Oct '15 9:58:59 AM by TobiasDrake

Alternatively with Cat In The Hat, since those kids don't look like Whos, he does seem to be a magical being. Maybe he can travel between the micro- and macroscopic worlds. Since although the kids don't look like Whos, Thing 1 and Thing 2 definitely do.

edited 27th Oct '15 2:43:55 PM by washington213