Probably the less said about 2019's Cats, the better. Yet, a year and a half since its release, Jennifer Hudson has cast her mind back to what it was like working on the infamous musical film, particularly when it came to seeing the digital fur technology applied to her performance.
"Well, I didn't know I'd have ears or a tail," Hudson, who played main character Grizabella the Glamour Cat, told Empire.
Hudson mainly remembers the emotional toll of the role which involves singing the famous song Memory.
"For me, Grizabella was almost too emotional," she said. "I was like, 'Well, how many tears can she cry?' Do you understand the depths that I have to go to to be able to give you what is honest emotion? As an actor, the trick is keeping that to yourself."
Hudson touched on her performance of Memory, in which real snot draws dribbles down her face.
"The snot that was coming out, that was real. Every inch of it. And I was like, 'If people only knew. The depth of that emotion.'"
Cats, based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical, featured a stacked cast, including Judi Dench, Idris Elba, Rebel Wilson, James Corden, Jason Derulo, Ian McKellen, Ray Winstone and Taylor Swift.
The film was panned by critics. Among skewering the screenplay and performances, they also took issue with the visual effects. Many called it the worst film of all time.
Fortunately, Hudson took away one positive: She named her cat, which she got while preparing for the film, Grizabella.
