(Cover) - EN Showbiz - Danny DeVito says it was a "really big stretch" to play his "grumpy" big screen character in The Lorax.

The actor lends his voice to the title character in the animated movie based on Dr Seuss' environmental fable about a boy trying to locate a mystical tree guardian. The Lorax is famed for his less than personable nature, and Danny admits getting into character was a little difficult.

"Oh, it was really a big stretch! I'm like Cary Grant when I get up in the morning, but by the time I get through breakfast, I turn into Danny DeVito. So it was very, very, very hard for me to jump into the Lorax, and be a little bit upset with the Once-ler for cutting all the trees down," he quipped to Moviehole.net when asked if it was hard work playing such a "grumpy" person.

Zac Efron and Taylor Swift play love interests in the movie. Danny loved the heart-warming romantic tale between the two characters.

"We got lucky though, because romance triumphed through Zac Efron's character, falling head-over-heels for the beautiful Taylor Swift character. What does she want? She wants something real, which women always want and men do too they want something real; they don't want a plastic thing, they don't want a phony thing, whether it's an emotion or a physical thing, they want it to be real," he smiled. (C) Cover Media