Evan Rachel Wood has seen Cats, and she is not pleased. Upon finishing the new film by Tom Hooper, which was adapted from a Broadway musical that was in turn adapted from a bunch of T.S. Eliot poems about cats, Wood was so overwhelmed by what she just witnessed that she had to take to Instagram Stories for a live reaction. (A completely relatable choice, since falling back into the real world after immersion in the unreality of Cats is a dangerous transition when one is isolated.) The actress, however, did not have a good mind-melting experience. Rather, she is incensed at the film besmirching the legacy of the insanely long-running original Broadway musical — which is, again, a wild production starring humans dressed as cats that call themselves “Jellicles†and are all begging one very old cat (Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy) to select them (make “the Jellicle choiceâ€) as the latest victim in her death cult (go to the Heaviside Layer).
After shouting “What the fuck?!†over and over again, with the requisite mix of horror and disbelief and insanity laughter that Cats demands, Wood posted some text to her Story that reads, “They changed all the iconic choreography. Took out 70 percent of the main characters. Changed the plot. I grew up in theatre. I was married to a dancer. I have massive respect for what they do, which is why this was such a letdown and missed opportunity for that community.†She also apparently posted a tweet that has since been deleted that said, “…….. #cats is actually worse than I thought it would be, And I already thought it would be horrible. But …. I am actually speechless. Why would you change the choreography? I … am SPEECHLESS,†according to Variety.
Wood also made sure to emphasize that the movie is not the fault of any of the actors, and that everyone should just go see Cats for themselves and form their own judgments. As far as cat-concerned movies go, sounds like this one ranks really low on Wood’s list.