If Andrew Lloyd Webber’s comments about James Corden in last year’s cinematic interpretation of his musical Cats didn’t clue you in to his opinion of the movie, well, his recent comments about the film should clarify things. “I cannot tell you how absolutely un-Eliot it all was,†Webber said of Corden’s version of Bustopher Jones in May, while providing live commentary on a 1998 filmed version of Cats. “This song is about wit, not coarse jokes.†Now, in a new interview with the Sunday Times, as reported by Deadline, the man behind the long-running Broadway smash calls out the principal reason Cats the movie was “ridiculous.†Besides, you know, the inherent, fun ridiculousness that provides the entire foundation of the musical itself.
In a nutshell, Andy Lloyd blames Cats director Tom Hooper for not reaching out. The composer explained, “The problem with the film was that Tom Hooper decided that he didn’t want anybody involved in it who was involved in the original show. The whole thing was ridiculous.†The movie, as you might recall, was a box-office bomb, to the point Corden and Cats co-star Rebel Wilson lampooned the film at this year’s Oscars, the Visual Effects Society issued a statement saying it wasn’t the special effects that were the problem, and the movie dominated the Razzie noms. On the other hand, maybe Andrew Lloyd Webber just needs to see the rumored “butthole cut†of the film to really understand Hooper’s vision. In fact, maybe we all do.