On Wednesday, the upcoming Cats movie dropped not a trailer but a behind-the-scenes featurette hyping up the already hotly anticipated project by Les Misérables director Tom Hooper. The big-screen adaptation stars some of the biggest names in film and music, including Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, Sir Ian McKellen, Dame Judi Dench, Idris Elba, James Corden, and Rebel Wilson, all of whom acted out their scenes on camera and were then digitally altered to give them a full fur coat onscreen.
And just in case anyone had the illusion that a film in which A-listers prance around like felines is not 100 percent serious business, the featurette is here to change that.
https://twitter.com/nwalks/status/1151513637544255488
“I was cast in 1981,” explains Dench, of her history with the musical. “Just before we opened I snapped my Achilles tendon and I thought that was my history with Cats. But it turns out not to be.” Hudson, a newcomer, on the other hand, relayed that she “instantly I felt the pressure” when she first heard she was going to be in the film. “This musical is timeless,” added Swift.
The clip nearly turned into full satire, however, when Corden offered his own soundbite. “Tom’s pairing them with a kind of level of technology which I don’t think has ever been used before,” he said, incredulously. “These are people but they’re cats and this is kind of blowing my mind.”
In other words, it didn’t take long for people to fixate on that one line in particular, which quickly became a meme on Twitter:
These are
people, but
they're cats! pic.twitter.com/Zb13G3cEo5— adam (@adamjmoussa) July 17, 2019
This is the Cats soundbite that sent me over the edge pic.twitter.com/YMqnfWaDyU
— ⭐ amy o'connor ⭐ (@amyohconnor) July 17, 2019
“These are people, but they’re cats, and this is kind of blowing my mind” I need this t shirt
— sam eriks (@samaeriks) July 17, 2019
Others had jokes about Swift’s appearance and commentary in the video, particularly when she talks about going to “cat school.”
same energy. pic.twitter.com/y6sRPD66N0
— Jarett Wieselman (@JarettSays) July 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/BogiTheBest/status/1151509758953820161
Taylor Swift before and after four months of cat school #CatsMovie pic.twitter.com/mnQW31cwvP
— Elana Fishman (@elanafishman) July 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/swlftworld/status/1151512142828527616
Where can I buy this cat and is she up for adoption ? https://t.co/2znhtumqWQ
— Hannah 💜 Detroit N1 & N2 (@champagneprob13) July 17, 2019
I love her expressions when she talks about going to a cat school #CatsMovie pic.twitter.com/vIh6xf82ZM
— Marianna,, VI A TAYLOR (@SyndromeSwiftie) July 17, 2019
Some couldn’t help pointing out the resemblance to a certain IFC comedy series:
https://twitter.com/chrisjrosen/status/1151514692084490241
I kept waiting for the Cats video to officially reveal itself to be a Documentary Now episode and I'm still not sure it's not. "These are people, but they're cats."
— Lauren Piester (@laurenpiester) July 17, 2019
“Documentary Now!” has released a trailer for a surprise new season https://t.co/pm1vzEiiku
— Character Actress Anna Magnani (@Mo__Faramawy) July 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/orenmendez/status/1151567085719310336
And then there were plenty of other random observations and memes:
WEEPING HELPLESS TEARS OF LAUGHTER
THIS IS A GIFT
please never take this less seriously I promise to see it six times https://t.co/koklbDZRjI— Alexandra Petri (@petridishes) July 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/lindseyweber/status/1151519423850844160
This divine madness. pic.twitter.com/G4er2TKriD
— Joe Reid (@joereid) July 17, 2019
Me watching the behind the scenes video for Tom Hooper’s Cats pic.twitter.com/aZVc7M51nQ
— Patrick Willems (@patrickhwillems) July 17, 2019
this teaser trailer is a christopher guest movie. you can’t convince me otherwise and i’m going to start screeching https://t.co/ph4R90yRC5
— rachel (@rachelmillman) July 17, 2019
"The cat perspective" – Idris Elba
— Richard Lawson (@rilaws) July 17, 2019
https://twitter.com/rachsyme/status/1151568141316689926
The official trailer for Cats finally drops on Friday, so we’ll finally get to see what the big fuss is about. Expect even more memes!