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Jason Derulo thought 'Cats' was "gonna change the world"

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Jason Derulo has said he thought Cats was going to make a huge mark on the world when it was released last year.

The pop star turned actor, whose first screen role was in the Tom Hopper flop as Rum Tum Tugger, said he jumped at the chance to star in the movie because he thought it was a “perfect” first feature.

  • Read more: Cats review – qeird and occasionally wonderful, this feline flick is no cat-astrophe

Speaking to The Telegraph, Derulo said that he had high hopes for the live-action remake. “For the longest time, I was trying to figure out what’s the perfect first role. Cats checked all the boxes. You can’t get a more start-studded cast, you don’t get a more respected director than an Oscar winner, and Rum Tum Tugger is a legacy role, a standout character in a classic musical,” he said.

“Even when I saw the trailer, I got chills down my spine! I thought it was gonna change the world.”

Cats, a live-action remake of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash-hit musical of the same name, cost $100 million (£76.6 million) to make but bombed at the global box office with takings of only $73.7 million (£57.1 million) [via BoxOfficeMojo]. The film was largely panned by fans and critics, owing in part to its bizarre CGI.

Jason Derulo
Jason Derulo isn’t here for the ‘Cats’ criticism. CREDIT: Dominik Bindl/Getty Images

Derulo continued: “You can’t wait for the perfect moment, cause that might not be your moment. So you’ve just got to go for gold. That’s how I’ll move forward.”

It’s not the first time he’s defended the movie. In an interview with TMZ in December, the singer said: “At the end of the day, the people are going to go see it, there’s going to be a deportation to another dimension.

“When it came out on Broadway, it was the same thing, people were like, ‘What is this, this is something totally different.’

Taylor Swift in the new 'Cats' trailer
Taylor Swift in the ‘Cats’ trailer. (Credit: Universal Pictures / YouTube)

“Anytime that you defy the rules there’s going to be some pushback, obviously. It’s an incredible piece of art done by some of the best people in the world.”

Director of the film, Tom Hooper, also revealed last year that a hugely critical response to the film’s first trailer made him and his team go back to the drawing board and remake much of the film.

In a three-star review, NME said that Cats “stops short of disaster”, but admitted that the film still had its faults.

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