Cats (2019)

Tom Hooper, the director made a quite good TV version of 'Daniel Deronda'.

Then he made that almost quite good movie about the stuttering king.

Then he made that opera musical which was both weird and almost good at this time.

Another awkward musical will keep him typecast and ruin his career.

I'm having trouble imagining this as anything other than an embarrassing mess. I'm open to being proven wrong.

Jellicle, jellicle, jellicle, jellicle...cats!

WTF are they thinking?

I swear, they are just putting of the Wicked movie to make sure Lea Michelle is practically in a nursing home and won't show up on set every day begging to be Elphaba.

There is already a film version of "Cats" with Elaine Paige and Sir John Mills

I don’t understand why the helmers of ‘Wicked’ can’t get that thing off of the ground after being announced more than two years ago. It’s a much better fit for the big screen than this.

So Taylor is Grizabella ?

According to the article, Jennifer Hudson is Grizabella.

Will Stockard Channing be an extra in the film?

Terrible idea for a movie, they'd do much better to put their time and effort into "Wicked", which had the potential be actually be popular.

As for "Cats", please tell me they're going to use animated cats, and not actors in costumes that will look monumentally dilly on screen?

Apparently, they will be employing "fancy new technology to make the actors playing the cats more animalistic." So no animated cats. The actors will actually be crawling around. This whole thing just seems like an idea that's time has passed sometime back in the mid-1980s.

Are there any fans of this musical that see this as a good thing?

no one wants to see this movie.

[quote] Are there any fans of this musical that see this as a good thing?

*timidly raises hand.*

I AM a fan but I am anticipating this film will go over like a turd in a punch bowl. Like A Chorus Line, it is too theatrical to be filmed.

The thrill of seeing it on Broadway started the minute you walked into the Winter Garden and entered the cats' world. The junkyard. The twinkling lights. The stage that spilled into the audience. How can you replicate that experience on screen?

Jennifer Hudson is great and all, but they really missed an opportunity to cast and older, bigger star as Grizabella. I'm not a fan of Barbra, but what a huge missed opportunity to not cast her in one of her last great screen roles singing a song she made into a hit back in the 80's. Or Cher. Or Meryl. Or even Glenn! Why is ALW so obsessed with casting Grizabella so young nowadays?!

I'll never forget the first time I saw Cats on Broadway. It was the Sunday Princess Diana died. Laurie Beechman was Grizabella. It was my first and only time seeing Laurie Beechman live on stage, and BOY if she didn't tear my heart out when she sang Memory...on an already moody day her performance really captured the feeling of sadness permeating that moment.

Laurie would be dead less than a year later. RIP.

I've never liked this musical. But I wish the filmmakers all my best.

Who could possibly care?

It isn't a musical.

It has no plot.

It has the same plot as the claw machine in Toy Story

McKellan is pretty catty.

Wicked as a big budget animation has the potential to be a franchise spawning hit for Universal. Frozen literally reminded people of Wicked and it is a billion dollar movie. Live action movie musicals have never made that kind of money. Beauty and the Beast did -- but it was made after the original animation captured people's loyalty.

Why are they resisting animating this?

It makes absolutely no sense that they are not animating Wicked. Universal could do well by breaking it down into several movies (it should be planned as a trilogy and padded out to make more sense and have expansive world building and action) and getting the OBC to voice Elphie and Glinda. Then if they really do make billions instead of flopping -- they can hire a new composer and get a new young set of pop-star vocalists to tell the story of Ozma with a Maguire twist.

Jennifer Hudson shouldn't be attempting Andrew Lloyd Webber.

Webber's songs demand someone who understands melody, lyrics and diction and doesn't screech and distort the vowels and shatter our eardrums.

That woman has a voice like acid.

Webber's songs what?!

The lyrics to Cats are cobbled together bits of TS Elliot. If you're going to get indignant over textual comprehension and attention to lyric you are too late.

It's nothing but pussies galore.....

Pussies are so feminine.

Almost too banal to comment on. Hideous. Will probably make tons of $$$$.

Laurie Davidson from "Will" is also listed in the imdb credits. I bet he gets Rum Tum Tugger.

James Corden probably for Bustopher Jones (although they should have hired Nathan Lane).

Taylor Swift is playing one of the Macavity girls. Jennifer Hudson for Grizabella, which is poor casting because she doesn't have the mystique needed to play the role. Ian McKellen for Gus, The Theatre Cat.

I'd like to see Ben Whishaw as Skimbleshanks.

On another Cats thread, some DLer made a post about threatening to take his nieces/nephews to the musical if they didn't behave. That made me laugh hard, I hated it.

NOW AND FOREVER!

I would have been movie Grizabella if it hadn't been for that cvnt Andrew Lloyd Webber. It's like the role was written with me in mind.

Faye Dunaway for Grizabella! I hear Faye and Andrew patched things up!

Jellicle this and jellicle that

Jellicle

jellicle jella-cle

jellicle jellicle

As long as it's Jennifer Hudson singing "Memory" and not Taylor Swift I think it will be ok.

Well, I hope it does better than a star is born

I loved Laurie Beechman as Grizabella too R12. What a beautiful and unique talent she had. Of course Betty Buckley was a thrill, but Laurie had so much character and sadness to her voice. Imperfect.

Jennifer Hudson can't really ruin "Memory" and she's not younger than Buckley was. But the movie seems a pointless idea. Is it for children?

Laurie sings her favorite song from Funny Girl. She was special...

J Hudson looks nothing like this, is the wrong type vocally and physically, and hasn't the acting chops to pull it off.

When JHud focuses and colours her vocals with appropriate dynamics and shadings, she has a remarkable BIG voice that can also deliver beauty and feeling.

Jennifer has that hollow sound to her tone that is richly dramatic....unfortunately she has too many sharp exclamations and undisciplined gospel shrieks that are not always appropriate. But she can polish off a huge note with a beautiful vibrato when she wants to. She's not underrated, her voice is both too big and not quite special enough. But her talent is unquestionable.

Um, no. She's a substitute Jennifer Holliday. And Holliday is no Grizabella. Therefore, neither is her substitute.

Jennifer Hudson is a much better singer and vocalist than Jennifer Holliday. You are showing your age AND your ignorance. There's a reason that Holiday only shrieks and vomits out that one song for the last 40 years.

Get it Jennifer.

Whatever, r39. I think you're inferring (incorrectly) that I somehow find Holliday to be superior in some way to Hudson.

They're both wrong for CATS.

Jennifer Holliday at the vomitorium & the cat crematorium....terrible singing even on a Sunday.

Jennifer Hudson with her big beautiful resonant church girl voice paying homage to her roots AND having some fun with it too. She's a smart chick and a good singer. She knows her voice.

Believe. If Scherzinger and Leona Lewis can sing Memory, Miss Jennifer Hudson certainly can.

Absolutely not. You queens think because she's loud that she can sing anything.

This would ideal movie for Barbra. She could play Grizabella. One song and scene. They could use her original recording from 1980 if her voice cannot carry the tune anymore.

Barbra could barely hit the Eb5 with all that studio help 35 years ago. She's never sung the song live because she can't. It's a tough rangy song. Celine can do it. She's been waiting 30 years.

1 Betty Buckley 2 Laurie Beechman No one else need bother. Theeeenks

Thank you R48 .

I want real cats. Or at least better tails.

What some posters are clearly saying is that J. Hudson is too BLACK to play that role.

[quote]Thoughts?

Why? It's not like Webber had any.

Thoughts about this? What thoughts?

R51, Heather Headley would be a great Griz. Lilias White did an excellent job. Leslie Uggams, Phylicia Rashad, Diana Ross, would be good. There's nothing about Hudson (including the lower notes of the score) that suggests she'd be good in this role, and it has nothing to do with excluding black performers.

Heather Headley's style was torn to shreds on a recent Streisand thread, though she is magnificent. Lillias White? Her voice is far sharper and more bombastic than Hudson's. No DL is racist as always. Ancient white men clutching their old Streisand albums and fingering their hole when Betty Lynn hits the Db in Memory.

Hudson will do just fine. Keep in mind that Taylor Swift is also cast. Why are people here only picking on the chick who can actually sing? That's right, cuz she black. I see you R45. Your stink up the theatre.

Can we get a telethon going for Betty Buckley? Her delicate, powerful and piercing voice is long gone. Btw, she cheated the low notes most of the time by speaking them. Just sayin. Enjoy ancient white gays!

Not her finest 11th hour. From last year

This sounds like it will be one fat turd.

No Eddie Redmayne?

I'm with everyone who wants to put Heather Headly in everything.

I also think she is epic and unique and her voice is versatile.

OMG, are we really going to have to hear about these piece of shit for the next year???????

I can't stand this show in the live theatre; no way I'm going to see it in a movie theater.

I’ll hate it if they don’t put ‘Growltiger’s Last Stand” back into the show.

[quote]I’ll hate it if they don’t put ‘Growltiger’s Last Stand” back into the show.

Me too. It's the only thing that is visually interesting in Act 2 while you're waiting for that damn flying tire. And the tv version that cut it was dull, dull, dull.

Put Hudson against Carrie Underwood and let them both scream until dead.

We all love Carrie but she's too pretty to play Grizabella. Her voice hasn't enough warmth, there's a metallic edge to her tone - as spectacular as she is.

This is JHud's moment to shine, mostly because Bey turned it down. JHud will win her second Oscar when the Aretha biopic is delivered! LOVE her.

[quote]Her voice hasn't enough warmth, there's a metallic edge to her tone

Same can be said for Betty Buckley. Her voice really has a metallic sound to it.

Baz Bamigboye just tweeted that Dame Judi Dench is playing Old Deuteronymy.

OMGOMGOMG

If I were Tom Hiddleston I'd be having a hearty chuckle right about now.

Love Headley's voice. Weirrrrrd vowels. And the uber-"regal" put on persona is exhausting.

Why the fuck are so many reasonably decent talents signing on to this? Is it paying that well, or does ALW have dirt on all of them?

Well, almost forty years later he's finally getting Judi into Cats.

Heather Headley is my homegirl from Trinidad. We're naturally regal with strange vowels, ha. Do you know her work R71? She's an amazing singer, classically trained but with a distinct personal sound and style. Affectations. She's not usually as grand as her "Memory" performance. I think she sang the fuck out of that song, the high notes have never been hit so hard and full bodied voice clean and then she does the over hold on the unexpected note just for flavor. She's a gorgeous singer who maps out most every note inflection, breath and dynamic of a song. That's what a classically trained singer does. She was the original Whitney in the Bodyguard that never made it to Broadway. She was in the Dreamgirls Dream Concert and Aida and The Color Purple. She's won a grammy for R&B and the Tony for Aida. When your voice is this great why not show it off? She can sing simply and beautifully anyday. See the next post...

Press play.

One more. I never understood what she did this night, but Elton loved it. She held back AND over embellished. Your Song.

R69 Only because Maureen Ponderosa (Bastet) isn't available. #SunnyFXX

Gender-shwapping cashting? Can I play Mishter Mishtopheleesh?

Oh, fuck. This was a shiteous musical and promises to be an even worse film.

The scourge of Lloyd Webber will never go away,

R69 She was the original Grizabella.

#CatLivesMatter

[quote] This gon' be shit...

Cat shit

Rebel Wilson joins cast

This was such an iconic musical, I never understood why they’re just now making it into a movie.

I get sincerely confused when trolls are outed who actually have reasonable opinions on at least one subject.

Heather Headly is pretty great.

I don't like the music,

The stage musical is downright awful. Who would want to see a movie adaptation? and with fucking Jennifer "I can't act my way out of a paper bag" Hudson as Grizabella??

I swear there's already an animated version of CATS

I question the extent to which this will actually be a financial success. I swear AWL is suffering major financial problems, with these mundane movie adaptations of his work. Cats is a niche musical. It was exciting when it first came out due to the concept and creativity involved (also some decent music, but, mostly, one good song). I can't imagine there are too many people out there anxiously awaiting this. I actually like Cats, and enjoyed the Broadway production a lot. But that was a long time ago, and I'm just kind of over it now. Someone above suggested above that Cats, as a whole work, seems a really dated concept. I agree. And any younger audience is likely not going to care about this.

Another part of the problem is that most of AWL's successful musicals really have little to do with him as a composer, but rather as a spectacle showcasing overblown theatrics. They don't really stand without the rest of the creative components. Phantom live is awesome (and I do like the music), but it's really the sets, costumes and special effects that draw people to that show, coupled with the live-action viewing that comes with a musical. Take out the falling chandelier and the beautiful sets, it wouldn't receive nearly the patronage it has. Same with Cats; as one mentioned above, the real draw of Cats as a live show was the scenery and interaction of the cast with the audience. The dancing was also incredible. As an actual "story" with music, well it's cute, but ultimately tossable. Take out all that, well would anyone really want to sit through it? I don't think it's interesting enough to really cross over into other media. As someone who really loved the show when it was younger, I definitely wont be running to the theater to see it.

Official trailer.

Jesus Christ... honestly, I'm not going to utterly shit on this. Certain shots are profoundly creepy... like... insane. Other shots are quite beautiful. That Rebel Wilson moment was somehow worse than the visuals.

Wait so they're like tiny cat humans? That's just creepy af.

Jennifer’s Memory leaves lots do desire. Grizabella is the one musical role Barbra could have done. They could have used her studio version because it is so loved. She wouldn’t be too old for the part. But Barbra would NEVER agree to act in the cat suit.

It's just the stage show, but instead of leotards and makeup they're CGI'd. I'm starting to love it.

And still no Wicked movie smh.

This trailer is creepier than It: Chapter 2.

r93 Me too. It's something different and I like it.

Furries will love it! As for the rest of us...

Oh god, every furry is going to orgasm during this movie. More reason to avoid the theatre.

There really aren't that many furries around as people assume.

Hudson's TOUUUUUUUUUUUUUCH MEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEE is way too much AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAANNNNNNDDDDDDDDDD IIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIIII AAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAM TELLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLLING YOU!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! for my taste.

They should have staged that line differently.

That being said, I'll probably go see it.

The cast:

Really, r99, you've researched this, have you?

Wasn't Cats the first musical that was targeted for flyoverstans and derided by everyone else? It's always been kind of a joke.

It's terribly low class.

[quote]And still no Wicked movie smh.

No one wants to see that mess either, hon.

What's the most high class musical?

R106, Lucy’s Operetta

R105 I do. I live in Norway. I've been wanting to see the musical for years now.

JHud sings like she’s stupid.

That fucking Memory song (which I've always hated) is now stuck in my head. That chorus is such an earworm.

Try replacing MEMORY with LESBIANS. It's much hairier.

Rebe Wilson totally ruins that preview.

I hate that rendition of "Memory"

Adele should have done whatever character Rebel Wilson's doing.

What does Universal do now that the reception for this film has met with such negativity and comedic fodder for something that is supposed to be crowd pleasing holiday fare and much needed counter programming to Star Wars? They've obviously spent too much money to shelve it and delaying it wouldn't be an ideal P.R. move and what would they even replace it with that's got enough cachet to be rushed to release for the prime holiday movie going season this year? I can only imagine they're planning lots of last minute post-production to alter some of the CGI to make it less strange looking in some instances (especially how Jennifer Hudson's CGI looks). I still think it has the potential to be successful for the novelty factor alone and if it manages to get good reviews, that may mitigate some of the initial embarrassment by those predisposed to wanting to see this before the trailer had been released.

The movie will be fine without modifications. Cats did run for ten billion years on Broadway, after all, there's definitely an appeal there for people.

Although, furries and singing movie, not my favorite combo, so I likely won't be seeing it. I will, however, look forward to the articles talking about how bad Taylor Swift and James Corden were in it.

They're not gonna shelve a multimillion dollar movie because the first trailer was such a shitfest.

I can imagine a number of people will also watch it BECAUSE the trailer was such a shitfest. Just imagine being high and going to see this movie for shits and giggles... amazing!

My friend who works on sets says that Rebel Wilson is a huge cunt.

"Jell-i-CLE songs from JELL-i-cle cats..."

This looks like it's going to be the scariest horror movie since Lucille Ball's 'Mame.'

R119 I mean... literally. No, for real: what did she do? Spill some tea!