“Every time we diverted from the essence of those H.A. Rey illustrations, it was always frustrating, it was always a little disappointing. Ultimately, we decided that instead of reinventing it, let’s celebrate it.” —Producer Ron Howard
George first began his journey from the classic books to the screen in the early ’90s, after producer Jon Shapiro stumbled across his childhood collection of Curious George books in his parent’s home. “At Thanksgiving of that year, I was in New York visiting my family,” he remembers. “I was rummaging through my collection of children’s books when I came across Curious George. I had such a nostalgic moment, thinking to myself, ‘Wow, I really have missed George and The Man with the Yellow Hat!’”
Fueled by a desire to share with others the joy this duo had brought to his boyhood, the producer found his way to the series’ co-creator, Margret Rey. Widowed and almost 83 years of age, Mrs. Rey was quickly won over by Shapiro’s passion for the project. With a loving warning, she shared with Shapiro that, despite what many thought, creating George’s simple stories was quite challenging. In reality, she and H.A. had painstakingly crafted the books through numerous drafts with her modeling exhaustive poses and his finely tuned sketches.
With the rights secured, Shapiro found an equally passionate producing partner in David Kirschner, who had written and executive produced the animated classic An American Tail. Shapiro remembers what clenched the deal: “The two of us promised Margret that only the highest quality film would be pursued for the property. We knew we had to deliver an A-list project to live up to her expectations.”
Kirschner laughs, “This is one of the last great properties in the canon of children’s literature. Fortunately for us, it has had the luck of being viewed as ‘the prettiest girl in the class.’ Everyone else thought another party had the rights to it…so it was never asked out until Jon and I came along.”
However, several years would pass before they found another like-minded Curious George fan who thought he could provide a proper home for George. Academy Award®-winning producer Ron Howard, who, early in his directing career had scored successes with such fantasy comedies as Splash and Cocoon (this was prior to his box office smash Dr. Seuss’ How The Grinch Stole Christmas), was enthusiastic about joining forces to produce the project. Producing with Kirschner and Shapiro, Howard felt a feature film adaptation of the Curious George books was a fine match for Imagine Entertainment, the production company he shared with his partner, Academy Award®- winning producer Brian Grazer.
“Initially, we considered a live-action version of the film,” offers Shapiro. “But after contacting animal trainers who told us what primates could and couldn’t do, we abandoned the idea. George had to have this embraceable quality as a soft, fuzzy, lovable monkey. We didn’t feel we could live up to the classic nature of a property already familiar to so many with a live action version of the film. While there are some very cute primates in the world, they just don’t look like George.”
Movie Database
In Theaters
