New 'Cats' film will transform actors into life-size kitties on giant sets using CGI
Universal has revealed more details about the film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical Cats following the broadcast of a behind-the-scenes featurette at ComicCon.
Following the news that stars including Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, Dame Judi Dench, Sir Ian McKellen and Jennifer Hudson were on board for the film, it has now been confirmed that they will be transformed into actual cats.
To make them look even more realistic, digital fur technology will be used “to create the most perfect covering of fur”.
The news may come as a surprise as the stage version simply featured cast members dressed up as cats.
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Addressing director Tom Hooper’s decision to use motion-capture technology, Vanity Fair quoted cast member James Corden saying recently: “These are people, but they’re cats, and it’s kind of blowing my mind.”
Another revelation that was made at ComicCon featured the unusual size of the set.
According to reporters in attendance at the event, the set was three to four times larger than a standard set in order to allow the cast to appear cat-sized.
Meanwhile, Dench and Elba recently revealed that they took their new roles very seriously.
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“We spent a very very long time preparing how to be a cat,” Elba commented.
The big screen adaptation will also feature the musical’s iconic songs including Memory, which was performed by Hudson when she appeared on stage.
Expressing his excitement over the film’s upcoming release, Deadline reported Hooper as saying: “I can’t wait for the world to see what we’ve been cooking up and working on secretly for the past three or four years.”
