Memories / All alone in the moonlight / I can dream of the old days / Before Cats was adapted into a film.
Wow, those Andrew Lloyd Webber musical lyrics sure are prescient in the shadow of the beloved (?) stage play’s theatrical flop, eh? He must have been some kind of soothe-sayer. You know who’s also saying some soothing things about her recent experience in a particularly bombastically bad piece of media, though? Taylor Swift, the agreed-upon saving grace of Cats, who has absolutely no regrets about her participation in the dud.
The pop idol excitedly announced loud and proud that she was so happy to be a part of the film, and she actually got to meet one of her idols, too, while shooting it.
“I’m happy to be here, happy to be nominated, and I had a really great time working on that weird-ass movie. I’m not gonna retroactively decide that it wasn’t the best experience. I never would have met Andrew Lloyd Webber or gotten to see how he works, and now he’s my buddy. I got to work with the sickest dancers and performers. No complaints.”
Swift was nominated for a Golden Globe for the original song “Beautiful Ghosts,” which she did not win. However, being nominated and getting that much closer to an EGOT ain’t a bad thing for one’s reputation. Plus, it’s cool that she’s not trashing it like many other people are – including even some of the cast.
Still, I just find it so fascinating how quickly award-winning Hollywood folks can go from making Oscar gold to Golden Raspberry bait. At least Swift had fun and got to meet and befriend one of the most eccentric of all Broadway musical playwrights. Also, I’m sure a hefty paycheck was involved, as I feel like that’s the main way Hooper lured so many famous faces to Cats. Me-ouch.
But really, I’m interested to learn more about what went so wrong during the production of this colossal misfire and hopefully one day we’ll get some sort of behind the scenes documentary that dives into exactly that.