Jennifer Hudson says she was just as shocked as the audience when she watched “Cats” for the first time.
Despite the star-studded cast, the 2019 film adaptation of “Cats” became a notorious meme fever dream while only landing at a 53% audience score on Rotten Tomatoes.
But while promoting her new musical project, the Aretha Franklin biopic “Respect”, Hudson addressed the flop, admitting the digital addition of fur, ears and tails came as quite the surprise.
“Well, I didn’t know I’d have ears or a tail,” Hudson, who played Grizabella and performed the show’s biggest track “Memory”, told Empire.
Hudson also explained becoming Grizabella was tougher than she anticipated.
“That was… phew. It was heavy and emotional the entire time,” she said. “Because that’s all Grizabella did. It was about being rejected. She was at her lowest point. And I had to carry that. I sang it live every time. The snot that was coming out, that was real. Every inch of it.”
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She added, “And I was like, ‘If people only knew. The depth of that emotion.’”
“Respect”, staring Hudson, Mary J. Blige, Forest Whitaker, Marlon Wayans, Marc Maron and Tituss Burgess hits big screens Aug. 13.
