Disney’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” Begins Production Today

Disney has kicked off production on “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” the first live-action film adaptation of Judith Viorst’s 1972 illustrated children’s classic. The film, directed by Independent Spirit Award-winner Miguel Arteta (“The Good Girl,” “Cedar Rapids,” “Youth in Revolt”) from a screenplay by Rob Lieber, is a 21 Laps Entertainment/Jim Henson Company production. Shooting in the Los Angeles area, with locations in the cities of Pasadena and Arcadia, the San Fernando Valley and Melody Ranch in Newhall, the film hits theaters nationwide on October 10, 2014.

Steve Carell (“The Way, Way Back,” “Little Miss Sunshine,” and “Despicable Me”) and Jennifer Garner (“Dallas Buyers Club, “The Odd Life of Timothy Green,” “Juno”) star as Alexander’s upbeat parents. The veteran performers are joined in the film by a trio of young talents that includes 16-year-old Dylan Minnette (“Lost,” the upcoming “Prisoners”) as Alexander’s older brother, Anthony; 15-year-old Kerris Dorsey (TV’s “Ray Donovan,” “Moneyball”) as sister Emily; and 12-year-old Australian native Ed Oxenbould (Oz TV’s “Puberty Blues”), who makes his big-screen feature debut as the film’s title character, Alexander.

Emmy® winner (and Golden Globe® nominee) Megan Mullally (“Will & Grace”) also joins the cast, along with Jennifer Coolidge (“American Pie,” “Legally Blonde,” TV’s “2 Broke Girls”) and Bella Thorne (“Shake It Up!”).

What is the Movie About?

Disney’s “Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day” follows the exploits of 11-year-old Alexander as he experiences the most terrible and horrible day of his young life—a day that begins with gum stuck in his hair, followed by one calamity after another. But when Alexander tells his upbeat family about the misadventures of his disastrous day, he finds little sympathy and begins to wonder if bad things only happen to him. He soon learns that he’s not alone when his brother, sister, mom and dad all find themselves living through their own terrible, horrible, no good, very bad day. Anyone who says there is no such thing as a bad day just hasn’t had one.

“Alexander and the Terrible, Horrible, No Good, Very Bad Day,” published in 1972, was written by Judith Viorst and illustrated by Ray Cruz. The endearing, enduring classic (with more than 2 million copies in print) became an ALA Notable Children’s Book while also winning a George G. Stone Center Recognition of Merit, a Georgia Children’s Book Award, and distinction as a Reading Rainbow book.

The 1972 original was first adapted to the small screen as a half-hour HBO animated musical in 1990 before Viorst collaborated with composers Charles Strouse (music) and Shelley Markham (musical score) for a 1998 stage musical at the Kennedy Center in Washington, D.C.