FILM 2363: CATS (2019)

TRIVIA: Was originally intended to be a traditionally animated movie before Tom Hooper came on board to direct.

One week after its release, it was revealed by The Daily Mail that director Tom Hooperedited and re-cut the film after it was panned by many critics.

On 21 December 2019, a mere 2 days after its release, Universal Pictures announced they would be releasing a new version with updated CGI at an undisclosed time.

In an article published in April 2020 on The Daily Beast website, visual effects artists speaking on condition of anonymity said that they had six months to produce the early 2 1/2 minute trailer and then only four months to produce the full film. Visual effects artists were spending 90 hour weeks and even sleeping under their desks in some cases to get the film done on time. This time crunch along with a cantankerous working relationship between the visual effects team and Tom Hooper are at the root of the problems with the film according to the article.

Entered in the 100 worst movies of all time on IMDb.

Dame Judi Dench was cast in the original 1981 London stage production in the dual roles of Jennyanydots and Grizabella. However, shortly before the opening of the original production, she suffered an Achilles tendon injury that forced her to withdraw from the show (and also led to her missing out on the role of Madame Ostrakova in Smiley's People(1982)), to be replaced at the last minute by Elaine Paige.

The stage version is the fourth-longest-running show in Broadway history, and the sixth-longest-running in London's West End.

One clip that features prominently in the trailer is Bombalurina lounging in a lighted crescent moon sign, sprinkling powder from a can marked "catnip". This is a reference to a large sign depicting a lighted crescent moon with a cocaine spoon that hung in the infamous Studio 54 nightclub during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Catnip is an herb containing a compound that acts on the feline brain in a way that some veterinarians describe as analogous to the "high" that humans receive from recreational drugs like cocaine.

With this film, Tom Hooper became the third person to direct both a Best Picture Oscar winner and Worst Picture Razzie winner, after Kevin Costner (Dances with Wolves (1990) and The Postman (1997)) and Peter Farrelly (Green Book (2018) and Movie 43 (2013)).

Trailers for this movie received far more dislikes than likes on YouTube primarily due to the cats' awkward part-human, part-CGI appearances, and how seriously they were played off. One reviewer on entertainment site Nerdist News said they felt the teaser trailer was more terrifying than the trailer for It: Chapter Two (2019), which was released around the same time.

The cast includes two Oscar winners: Jennifer Hudson and Dame Judi Dench; and one Oscar nominee: Sir Ian McKellen.

This is an excellent episode of How did this get made – I probably wouldn’t have watched it if not for this podcast and am only glad I did so I could follow this episode.

How Did This Get Made Episode #253