Tom Hooper to direct movie of Andrew Lloyd Webber's 'Cats'

[Marvolo]

I wonder if he mean radioactive as in shockingly bright pink, or actual radioactive nipples that give other cats cancer?

 

[TheVileOne]

That's all a joke right? I don't really believe it.

 

[Marvolo]

Its Hooper so I believe it.

 

[Sithborg]

That's all a joke right? I don't really believe it.

Its going to leak someday like the Deadpool stuff.

 

[Pennywise]

 

[DarkKnight88]

Hey man, you created it. It was always bad lol

 

[TheVileOne]

In defense of Webber, the show works better onstage, though I'm not a big fan of the Broadway musical either.

Some musicals IMHO just don't translate well to cinema. IE Evan Hansen. Cats was never going to translate well because it's just not very cinematic and the material doesn't adapt well to a cinematic narrative.

 

[Lily Adler]

In defense of Webber, the show works better onstage, though I'm not a big fan of the Broadway musical either.

Some musicals IMHO just don't translate well to cinema. IE Evan Hansen. Cats was never going to translate well because it's just not very cinematic and the material doesn't adapt well to a cinematic narrative.

How about animation?

 

[Arachnerd]

I remember Spielberg initially bringing up the idea to do a Cats film with animation (I think there's some concept art of that version out there too), but for whatever reason it wasn't greenlit.

 

[Lily Adler]

I remember Spielberg initially bringing up the idea to do a Cats film with animation (I think there's some concept art of that version out there too), but for whatever reason it wasn't greenlit.

Wasn't that the one that Barbra Streisand wanted to do?

 

[DarkKnight88]

Yep, they couldn't really crack the story. No surprise lol

Why Steven Spielberg's Animated Adaptation Of 'Cats' Never Made It Past Development

 

[TheVileOne]

Yep, they couldn't really crack the story. No surprise lol

Why Steven Spielberg's Animated Adaptation Of 'Cats' Never Made It Past Development

Yeah even if you were to animate cats, like they'd look closer to real cats probably, but how do you turn that narrative into something someone in a moviegoing audience wants to sit and watch? How do you pare it down to two hours or less?

 

[Lily Adler]

Yep, they couldn't really crack the story. No surprise lol

Why Steven Spielberg's Animated Adaptation Of 'Cats' Never Made It Past Development

It looked so good.

 

[Marvolo]

Yeah even if you were to animate cats, like they'd look closer to real cats probably, but how do you turn that narrative into something someone in a moviegoing audience wants to sit and watch? How do you pare it down to two hours or less?

Adapt it liberally. Keep 1 or 2 of the popular songs, take elements from the play and incorporate them into a standard Disney or Pixar cartoon narrative. Use locations and set design from the play in the cartoon world design.

 

[TheVileOne]

Adapt it liberally. Keep 1 or 2 of the popular songs, take elements from the play and incorporate them into a standard Disney or Pixar cartoon narrative. Use locations and set design from the play in the cartoon world design.

Yup.

 

[Pink Ranger]

In defense of Webber, the show works better onstage, though I'm not a big fan of the Broadway musical either.

Some musicals IMHO just don't translate well to cinema. IE Evan Hansen. Cats was never going to translate well because it's just not very cinematic and the material doesn't adapt well to a cinematic narrative.

The weird part is Evan Hansen (the stage musical of which I've grown to dislike now because of how problematically overrated it has become) actually COULD have worked on film, but didn't because the creative team couldn't pull their heads out of the collective ass of that show to realize that some things that work on stage don't work on film, and missed opportunities to fix or avoid some of the thematic problems of the original work.

 

[TheVileOne]

The weird part is Evan Hansen (the stage musical of which I've grown to dislike now because of how problematically overrated it has become) actually COULD have worked on film, but didn't because the creative team couldn't pull their heads out of the collective ass of that show to realize that some things that work on stage don't work on film, and missed opportunities to fix or avoid some of the thematic problems of the original work.

Well the big problem for Evan Hansen to me is that everything felt so bland and uncreative. There was no elaborate staging or choreography. During all the musical numbers, people are just singing or standing in one place for the time. Or some of the actors are just sort of sing-talking their way through songs. I never really felt the emotions most of the songs.

 

[Pink Ranger]

Well the big problem for Evan Hansen to me is that everything felt so bland and uncreative. There was no elaborate staging or choreography. During all the musical numbers, people are just singing or standing in one place for the time. Or some of the actors are just sort of sing-talking their way through songs. I never really felt the emotions most of the time.

Which is part of the reason why it would have made a decent film. The plot is linear and straightforward, such that it is, and doesn't rely on the audience going on some kind of conceptual Brechtian journey to enjoy it. The music is undemanding, and maybe is a bit too cloying and eager to please its target audience. But even for a musical I don't particularly like, the film somehow missed the mark and made it even worse.

 

[TheVileOne]

Which is part of the reason why it would have made a decent film. The plot is linear and straightforward, such that it is, and doesn't rely on the audience going on some kind of conceptual Brechtian journey to enjoy it. The music is undemanding, and maybe is a bit too cloying and eager to please its target audience. But even for a musical I don't particularly like, the film somehow missed the mark and made it even worse.

So you mean adapt it as a straight drama without the musical parts?

 

[Pink Ranger]

So you mean adapt it as a straight drama without the musical parts?

Not exactly. Basically, DEH is Highschool: The Musical for bullied drama nerds. They just needed to roll with it, and adapt it and cast it accordingly, and realize the differences in film narrative give them an opportunity to do something a little different than the stage version. It starts with not casting the same stage actor who not only can't pass as a highschooler, but looks like an adult who wouldn't be allowed within 100-feet of a highschool to begin with.

DEH is a straightforward human story, whereas Cats has defamiliarized qualities (like Pippin, Hamilton) where the fact that it's a stage musical is actually part of the story itself.

 

[ComicChick]

fwiw, i've never seen Cats but Memory is a pretty great song

 

[Pink Ranger]

fwiw, i've never seen Cats but Memory is a pretty great song

Definitely check out the filmed stage version. The CGI film is trash except for one segment.