FILM · 1997 · USA
Mousehunt
28 archived facts 5 topics 1 source Last reviewed Oct 2026
28 Interesting Facts About Mousehunt
Interesting Facts (19)
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It is one of the few family or children's films released in the late 1990s and early 2000s to be set in a deliberately ambiguous time period, mixing clothing, hairstyles, cars and technology from different parts of the 20th century. The Borrowers (1997), Stuart Little (1999) and A Series of Unfortunate Events (2004) all similarly feature this design choice.
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The film's producers initially asked Danny Elfman to compose the music, but he turned it down.
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The mouse puppet could register a range of subtle and not-so-subtle expressions, but Gore Verbinski often favored a more restrained approach as shooting progressed. "We would have a lot of funny, cute pauses punctuated by the mouse's reactions. But then Gore would say, 'Let's not be so human. Let's pull it back a bit, make it more mouse-like.' He didn't want the character to be completely caricatured. He wanted to keep it at a peak; that was funnier."
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The mechanics, designed and produced by Christian Colquhoun and Al Sousa, included what was needed for remote-controlled facial articulation, cable-controlled head and neck movement, and telemetry-controlled mechanical arms. Internal bladders simulated the breathing motion, and an opening in the soft body allowed puppeteers to reach a hand inside and create body movements. The hair of the animal's dense coat was hand-tied by Stuart Artingstall, Ursula Ward and Eklund.
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Behind the Scenes (4)
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Although an animatronic rodent was used for close-ups and CGI was used in some scenes, most of the filming was done with a team of 60 field mice trained by animal trainer Boone Narr. The mice were trained for everything from running and climbing to sleeping under a tissue blanket in a sardine can.
- #021
The former famous Beverly Hills gourmet restaurant Chasen's was used for Ernie's restaurant, Chez Ernie (the restaurant that is shut down by the health department and slated for demolition after the mayor dies of a heart attack from accidentally eating a cockroach). Chasen's had closed two years before the film's production and stood empty during shooting. It later became a grocery store called Bristol Farms.
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Before filming, the puppeteers rehearsed extensively on a stage set up at Winston studio. "We wanted to make sure each puppeteer could work off the next person's rhythm and perform specific movements, or just improvise if needed," explained Shane Mahan. "Our team became quite adept at keeping the performance live and interactive."
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In wide shots in the film, Catzilla was portrayed by a real live cat. The feline actor visited Stan Winston Studio several times, not only for reference purposes but also so that the artists could photograph it and the animatronic artists could observe its behavior in order to build the animatronic version with as much expression as possible. Opting for a distinctly caricatured approach, the model makers worked from concept drawings approved by Mark 'Crash' McCreery.
Characters & Cast (3)
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The script was first offered to 20th Century Fox and Disney, and both studios entered a bidding war over the film rights. Late in the war, a third bidder emerged: Jeffrey Katzenberg of DreamWorks. Having recently left Disney after a bitter dispute with Michael Eisner, Katzenberg seized the chance to get back at his former employer by joining the bidding war. In the end, DreamWorks won.
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Chris Farley is thought to have been considered early in production to play Lars, since he had auditioned to voice Shrek (2001), an upcoming Dreamworks Pictures film (also released by Dreamworks), but he was in rehab for a drug problem and declined. Sadly, he died on December 18, 1997, just one day before this film was released.
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Bill Murray and Jim Carrey were the first choices for Ernie and Lars, but Carrey was busy with The Truman Show (1998) (which was also supposed to be released in theaters at the same time as this film but was pushed back to June 1998) and Murray with The Man Who Knew Too Little (1997), so both had to pass.
Deeper Meaning (1)
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The fake mouse had to withstand close scrutiny and also cut seamlessly with footage of real mice. "It was no simple matter to run our puppet's lighting and depth of field, whisker width and fur fineness at an enlarged level to match the real animals exactly," stated Shane Mahan. "Production used perhaps sixty different trained mice, each with slight color variations. We had to find common ground for our animatronic and determine which differences we could get away with. As it was, we went back to the drawing board several times on skin and hair to achieve the fur density and hair, and after that we relied on cinematography and lighting to make everything work."
Life & Family (1)
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Rick Moranis was offered the role of Lars, but after filming his previous film Honey, We Shrunk Ourselves (1997), released nine months before this one, he had announced he was taking an indefinite break from acting to focus on raising his children as a single parent, since his wife had died six years earlier.
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Sources & editorial notes
Reference databases
- IMDb
Information from external sources is independently selected, consolidated and edited by Arka Evren. Sources are listed for verification and further reading. Encyclopedia text is used under its licence (CC BY-SA). How we work