The “Cats” reviews have been released. And most, like ours, have been pretty damning. But this isn’t anything new to director Tom Hooper and the rest of the “Cats” gang, as the film has been the laughing stock of the internet since the first trailer was released months ago. And in a new interview with EW, Hooper recalls those initial reactions and takes it in stride, while also explaining how those reactions influenced the final film.
READ MORE: ‘Cats’: Tom Hooper’s Adaptation Of A Broadway Classic Is A CGI Nightmare [Review]
Of course, “Cats” has a number of things going against it before you even walk into the theater. The film is based on a musical that many believe is one of the most strange Broadway hits of all time, with little-to-no plot to speak of. But then, the new film takes all that strangeness and adds an additional layer of odd as actors we know and love are transformed into weird human-cat hybrids. It’s that latter issue that seems to be the subject of intense mockery, which Hooper explained is something he wasn’t expecting at all.
“I didn’t think it was going to be a big deal, and it was obviously much more of a big deal than I thought,” said the director. “Reading some of the commentary was pretty entertaining.”
As mentioned, the issues surrounding the film, in the eyes of many, came months ago when Universal released the first trailer that was clearly not ready for primetime, with effects looking terrible and the feline actors looking, well, creepy. Hooper told EW that the issues he heard from fans after that first trailer helped reinforce thoughts he had about the designs of the characters, which changed by the final film.
“I think probably my original dream to use a lot of the human face had gotten perhaps a bit lost in that process of rushing to make that first trailer,” Hooper said. “I really concentrated on bringing back the actors’ faces because when you’ve got Ian McKellen or Judi Dench or Taylor Swift, why would you not want to? I don’t know if that’s what the comments were asking for, but what I took from it was that I needed to reconnect with my original plan and make sure I was delivering on that.”
READ MORE: ‘Cats’ Producer Says The Film’s Backlash Stems From “People Who Didn’t Know ‘Cats’”
Of course, with reviews being as bad as they are (17% on Rotten Tomatoes, as of this writing), it’s obvious that most critics still aren’t connecting with Hooper’s vision of “Cats.” Perhaps there’s really no way to make James Corden look good as a kitty?
“Cats” hits theaters tomorrow.