Nailing down a proper Dr. Seuss-y look for the car Mike Myers drove in “The Cat in the Hat” proved a bit of a challenge.
Director Bo Welch had his work cut out, as the Seuss doesn’t exactly avail himself to realistic interpretation.
When was the last time you saw a Sneech strolling up Michigan Avenue, hmmm?
Welch said he “wanted a car with a sense of wit.”
He got that and more with S.L.O.W., which, as any “Cat in the Hat” fan knows, stands for Super Luxurious Omnidirectional Watchamajigger.
Welch turned the assignment of creating S.L.O.W. over to a design team led by Harald Belker, who dreamed up the futuristic vehicles used in the film “Minority Report.”
The 3,500-pound S.L.O.W. is 100 percent fabrication–not based on an existing automotive platform. At 22 feet in length and 8 feet wide, how could it be anything but a one-off? Think yards of fiberglass with a sprayed aluminum finish. The wood trim is African mahogany.
One dozen 12-volt batteries and an AC electric motor capable of a smart 47 miles per hour power the S.L.O.W.
But there’s a hitch. The driver (not Myers!) is concealed in a slot behind the front seat and can’t see where he’s going. The rearview mirror is a secret camera connected to a monitor in the driver’s compartment.
During operation, a technician stationed nearby radios commands to the driver, helping him avoid objects beyond his field of vision. (The external technician also operates a rear mounted propane tank that blows out all those cool flames!)
“There were at least 50 people involved in building the S.L.O.W.,” said art director Sean Haworth. “From original napkin sketches to completion, we worked four months.
“S.L.O.W. was designed with three-dimensional CAD/CAM software that permitted [freelance conceptual artist] Harald [Belker] to grow an actual scale model for approval by the director [Bo Welch].
“Computer files directed a laser fired into a vat of liquid polymer, and that built up the model one layer at a time. We grew it from the wheels up. In a week we had a white plastic car to critique. Later, the sculptors used the same process, the same files and were able to finesse specific sections of the car. Tweak them here and there as required.”
Haworth said the S.L.O.W. is doing promotional duty. Eventually, it will go into property storage and await use in any sequel planned by Universal Pictures.
“We’ll pull it out at that point and see what freshening needs to be done,” he said.
The coolest point about the S.L.O.W.? “You don’t need a driver at all,” Haworth confided. “The car can be operated 100 percent by remote control” for flexibility.
That is cool!
