Dame Judi Dench has revealed that she never watched the final cut of the 2019 film adaptation of Cats, describing the much-maligned movie as a 'waste of all that goodwill and talent' in her upcoming memoir.
The veteran actress, best known for playing M in the James Bond franchise, reflects on her professional life in the book titled Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?, revisiting both the highs and lows of her career.
Among the lows is her role as Old Deuteronomy in Tom Hooper's adaptation of the Andrew Lloyd Webber musical, a film that was widely panned by critics and struggled at the box office.
Memoir reveals regrets over Cats
Speaking about the film for the first time, Dame Judi wrote: 'Oh God, I can't bear it!' She recalled with frustration how Andrew Lloyd Webber had waited 'so long for it to be made', but the film still ended up 'a waste of all that goodwill and talent'.
She also revealed that she spared herself the pain of watching the finished version, a decision shared by many given the film famously hit cinemas without all its editing and CGI properly finished.
As per The Independent, Dame Judi continued: 'I understand the critics were rather hostile to the film. I never saw the final cut so I can't judge.'
Cast defended despite criticism
Despite the film's poor reception, Dame Judi insisted the cast – which included Francesca Hayward, James Corden, Jason Derulo, Sir Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Sir Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson and Ray Winstone – did 'their best'.
She added: 'All I'll say is nobody sets out to give a poor performance or make a bad film. You do your best, offer something up and hope that people will get on board and join the party.'
The Mrs Brown and James Bond star also observed that 'sometimes things just don't work out: the timing's wrong, the cast don't gel, the elements don't coalesce'. She added: 'But people's intentions are mostly honourable. There were no villains in the making of Cats. And if something isn't a success, then there are always things you can say you've learnt.'
Critical and commercial reception
Her close friend Sir Ian McKellen, who played Gus the Theatre Cat, described the film adaptation as a 'ridiculous enterprise' but told Yahoo! Movies that it could be a future classic regardless.
Cats currently holds a 19% 'Rotten' score on aggregator site Rotten Tomatoes. Decider said that it was 'too indigestible even for a hate-watch,' while Metro described it as 'the best worst movie about cats ever made'.
Following the film, Dench was nominated for worst supporting actress at the annual Golden Raspberry Awards. When asked about her nomination in 2020, she said on BBC Radio 4's Front Row: 'Oh, am I? That would be good. As far as I know, that's a first!' She added: 'I'm not big on reading reviews, anyway…. you kind of know, yourself, about something, I think.'
At the 2020 Razzies, Dench lost out in her category to her Cats co-star Wilson, who portrayed Jennyanydots. Cats also won worst picture at the ceremony, and Hooper was named worst director, while James Corden landed the worst supporting actor accolade for playing Bustopher Jones.
Cats clawed in $78.4 million (£58.7m) at the box office, failing to make back its production budget which was thought to be in the region of $80 – $100m (£60 – £75m).
Hooper, who won an Academy Award for directing The King's Speech in 2011, and also helmed The Danish Girl and Les Misérables, has not directed a film or TV show since Cats in 2019, instead focusing on commercial work. According to reports, he is attached to direct the film adaptation of Millie Bobby Brown's book Nineteen Steps for Netflix, as well as Photograph 51, a movie about scientist Rosalind Franklin.
Cats is currently available to stream on Amazon Prime Video. Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It? is out on November 3.
