Jennifer Hudson on Cats: Its A Shame Everyone Misunderstood It

The “Cats ” movie made many people feel like bringing up a hairball, but not Jennifer Hudson . 

The “Aretha” star told movie magazine Total Film  that the publicly panned 2019 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Weber’s beloved-but-plotless Broadway musical was merely “misunderstood.”

“I think it was a bit overwhelming,” she said of the public’s reaction to the movie, which has a critics’ rating of 19% on Rotten Tomatoes . “It’s unfortunate that it was misunderstood. I think later down the line, people will see it differently. But it is something I am still very proud of and grateful to have been a part of. Yeah, I got to be Grizabella the Glamour Cat!” 

Hudson enjoyed the experience so much she even got two cats, naming one after her character and the other after Macavity, Idris Elba’s resplendent teleporting feline. 

“They are the best thing I’ve ever had. I love them so much,” she said of her feline fur-ends.

The “Cats” movie became somewhat of a 2019 punchline after the release of its trailer, featuring a cast of very famous actors like Judi Dench, Rebel Wilson and Ian McKellen as creepy CGI cat-like humanoids.

(Watch below at your own risk.)

Actor Evan Rachel Wood hated the movie so much  she felt the need to film her reaction to it and post it online, which went viral.

James Corden, who played Bustopher Jones in the film adaptation, was hesitant to even watch it, saying in December 2019, weeks after the film premiered, that he had “heard it’s terrible .”

Yet, Taylor Swift, who played Bombalurina in the film, defended it much like Hudson.

“I had a really great time working on that weird-ass movie,” Swift told Vanity Fair  in January 2020, noting that the experience allowed her to become friends with Weber.