Pharrell Williams Joins ‘Dr. Seuss’ The Grinch’ As Narrator

Pharrell Williams Benedict Cumberbatch — Shutterstock

EXCLUSIVE: Pharrell Williams, whose Oscar-nominated song “Happy” helped turn Despicable Me 2 into a monster hit in 2013, has rejoined with Illumination and Universal Pictures. Williams has come aboard to be the narrator of the animated The Grinch. Grammy nominee Tyler, the Creator has written an original song — “I Am The Grinch” — and will perform it for the film. Oscar-nominated composer Danny Elfman has written the film’s score, and Tyler, the Creator and Elfman collaborated on a re-imagined version of the classic Grinch theme “You’re A Mean One.”

Tyler The Creator — Tyler, The Creator Shutterstock

The Grammy-winning Williams previously composed the score and original songs for all three films in the Despicable Me series and has been important in Illumination racking up three of the eight top-grossing animated films of all time, with Illumination’s films grossing more than $5.8 billion worldwide in the company’s 11-year run.

Benedict Cumberbatch voices the title role of The Grinch, with Rashida Jones, SNL‘s Keenan Thompson, Cameron Seely and Angela Lansbury providing the other main voices, with Lansbury voicing The Mayor of Whoville.

The film is directed by Scott Mosier and Yarrow Cheney, adapted from Dr. Seuss’ book by Michael LeSieur and Tommy Swerdlow. Producing are Illumination’s Chris Meledandri and Janet Healy, with Latifa Ouaou, Audrey Geisel and Chris Renaud the executive producers. This is the third adaptation of Geisel’s work for Meledandri — The Lorax and Horton Hears A Who are the others — and it comes 18 years after Universal released the live-action Grinch with Jim Carrey in the starring role.