The producers of the Cats movie explained that after trying to make practical costumes, they realized CGI was the best way to transform its all-star cast into cats. Cats has garnered plenty attention after the release of its trailer, however the attention it received, for the most part, was not praise. People took to social media to point out how “awful” and “terrifying” the CGI cat versions of Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden and Judi Dench looked.

Cats was originally a Broadway musical composed by Andrew Llyod Weber, inspired by T.S. Elliot’s poetry book Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. In Weber’s musical, each cat within the tribe of Jellicle cats is competing to be the cat chosen to ascend to heaven and be reborn. Every cat proves why it should be the chosen cat by singing its own song including “Memory,” “Macavity: the Mystery Cat,” and “Skimbleshanks: The Railway Cat.” The Cats film is sticking true to Weber’s plot-line and soundtrack. One song has been added for Taylor Swift’s character, Victoria, called “Beautiful Ghosts” and was written by Weber and Swift collaboratively.

According to Variety, the production team spent a copious amount of time figuring out how to transform the actors into cats. “When we first started talking about ‘Cats,’ they were looking at putting prosthetics on the actors,” said Donna Langley, chairman of Universal Filmed Entertainment Group. “There were all sorts of technical problems with dancers overheating and not being able to keep the fur on. It didn’t look good, so they went away and solved things.” Ever since the first Cats trailer was released, the production team applied the social feedback constructively. Cats producers Eric Fellner and Tim Bevan want to assure the doubters that they are working to improve Cats CGI daily, and the felines will look different in the finished product than they did in the trailer.

Bevan also states a lot of the backlash came from viewers who aren’t familiar with Cats the musical. He believes these people expected to see typical animated cats who walk on all-fours similar to the live action Lion King film, and claims those familiar with the musical weren’t as perplexed by the trailer. Choosing to see the glass half full, Bevan is happy the video has gotten so much attention, even if the attention was negative, since it still brought the trailer over 100 million views.

Cats is an interesting musical to choose for a movie adaption. While the music is catchy, most musical theater fans know that Cats is notoriously difficult to follow. The production is an opera-style musical with minimal dialogue, so the plot isn’t clearly stated. The trailer notably tried to rectify this by stating several times that they were holding a contest to pick a cat to ascend to heaven. However, fan response overall was still negative. The upcoming Cats movie is also in great hands, however, since Fellner and Bevan, also known as The Working Duo, also brought Broadway musical Les Mis to the big screen. Les Mis had a beautiful balance of strong musical numbers and raw acting scenes. Perhaps the improvements the Cats production team have been making will have paid off, and movie goers will be able to see for themselves on December 20th, 2019.

Next: Cats: 5 Reasons We’re Excited For The Movie Musical (& 5 Why We’re Terrified)

Source: Variety

  • Cats Release Date: 2019-12-20