For all the feline lovers, fans of the musical, or just the perversely curious: Universal has announced that the film version of Cats will utilize motion capture to create the movie’s feline characters. The news came out of Cinema Con, the Hollywood trade show where studios often show sizzle reels to generate buzz for their upcoming releases. That appeared to be the strategy for the Tom Hooper (The King’s Speech, Les Miserables) directed film, which brings the celebrated Andrew Lloyd Webber show to the silver screen. Though the footage shown at the convention didn’t show the final renderings of the movie’s characters, it did show behind the scenes footage of the performers wearing the standard dotted leotards used for motion capture filming. Hollywood used the same technique to realized characters like Gollum in the Lord of the Rings trilogy, and Thanos in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. Related: New Taylor Swift video strongly implies she’s utterly, completely lost her damn mind Cats has long toiled in so-called Development Hell. The popularity of the plotless dance musical made tinseltown interested in producing a movie version, with various directors like Steven Spielberg signing up for the project only to leave later on. Hooper’s version will feature Oscar winners Jennifer Hudson and Judi Dench, as well as Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Idris Elba and James Corden. The movie will hit cinemas this December.<doc-sep>The Cats Movie Will Shrink Actors To Feline Size And Add Performance Capture Fur Until now, almost everything about Tom Hooper’s adaptation of the Broadway musical Cats has been a mystery. We’ve had no idea how the Oscar-winning director was going to take the beloved musical, which is very light on narrative and features stars humans dressed as cats, and turn it into a serious motion picture. What we did know is that he started by assembling an incredible cast. The film stars huge names like Taylor Swift, Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Ian McKellen, Jennifer Hudson, and many others. But, was Hooper really going to dress those people up in skintight cat costumes like they do on stage? At CinemaCon 2019, theatre owners were finally given the answer to that question. And the answer is, kind of? At the end of Universal Pictures’ presentation at CinemaCon, it screened a behind the scenes sizzle reel for Cats. It was the only film from the studio’s upcoming slate that didn’t show any final footage, because production just recently completed and there wasn’t any finished footage to show. In the reel, which was largely shot on set, Hooper revealed he wanted to bring the musical to life in a very 2019 way. To do that he’s using performance capture to make his actors look like they have real fur on them. And so what the audience saw at the presentation were clips of actors in those fancy suits, complete with dots and everything. Some had cameras attached to their heads, others did not. It’ll eventually look something like Avatar’s Na’vi, but with fur, and the actors said they studied cat movements for the film. Also, much of those soon-to-be digitally enhanced performances were shot on sets that are three to four times their usual size, to give the actors “a cat’s eye view.” In other words, they’re going to be the size of cats as they sing. Huge chairs and tables with the actors running and dancing under them. Dench called the experience of walking on the set like walking into Alice in Wonderland. The video touted that all disciplines of dance will be represented, and noted that while Andrew Lloyd Webber’s music is being used, the film should feel rather modern, thanks in large part to the technology and epic scope with which Hooper is filming. Epic scope, but little cats. So…there you have it. Somehow, this Christmas, Universal is going to release a musical with huge stars like Taylor Swift and Idris Elba, as digitally enhanced, singing cats, who are the size of cats. Whether or not that will work, we couldn’t say based just on this sizzle reel. But there’s no doubt that Hooper has a big, bold vision for this popular musical, and he’s really going for it.<doc-sep>Uh oh, Cats is going to win an Oscar. At least, that's my prediction after hearing these brand-new details from those in the audience at at CinemaCon in Las Vegas where Universal presented a behind-the-scenes look at the musical adaptation — our first chance to get new info since the cast was gradually announced back in 2018. Taylor Swift is starring in the film alongside Jennifer Hudson and Idris Elba, but what's most important is that you know the characters in the movie will be portrayed as the size of actual house cats. Yes. A good sentence.<doc-sep>
The cast of CATS perform on stage at the first-ever revival of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s iconic CATS on Broadway on July 31, 2016 in New York City. (Photo by Noam Galai/Getty Images for CATS) 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”. Taylor Swift will be transformed into a cat using motion technology for the big screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical. (Photo by Matt Sayles/Invision/AP, File) The news may come as a surprise as the stage version simply featured cast members dressed up as cats. 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.” Jennifer Hudson performed “Memory” during the Universal Pictures presentation at CinemaCon 2019. (Photo by Chris Pizzello/Invision/AP) 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. “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.”