Cats, the film that tried to use prosthetic fur before settling on CGI, has been panned by most critics. Panned might not be a strong enough word: Its critic rating on Rotten Tomatoes is 19 percent. That doesn’t matter to Jason Derulo, who plays Rum Tum Tugger.
A videographer with TMZ asked Derulo if he thought the movie would do better if they hadn’t CGI-ed Derulo’s massive penis out of the movie.
“Reviews don’t matter, man. At the end of the day, people are going to go see it,” Derulo said, before adding (with the most unfortunate word choice considering the political climate), “and it’s going to be a deportation to another dimension. An incredible, braaaaave piece of art.”
“It always has been that way,” he said, invoking the original groundbreaking Broadway production.
Except Cats got good reviews and attendance! For example, here’s the show’s good review in The New York Times. Then-theater critic Frank Rich wrote that the musical “believe[s] in purely theatrical magic, and on that faith it unquestionably delivers.” The show would go on to run for 21 years in London and 18 years on Broadway and was revived twice in London and once on Broadway in 2016.
Personally, I love that Derulo maintains that this weird-looking movie that randomly inserted a new Taylor Swift song is an art that is pushing the zeitgeist forward. “Any time you defy what an art form is, anytime you defy all the rules, there’s going to be some pushback. Obviously,” Derulo told the videographer.
“It’s an incredible piece of art,” he added.