Tom Hooper’s Cats commentary leaves viewers even more baffled about film

Director explains the ‘tongue-in-cheek’ joke behind Rebel Wilson unzipping her own fur to reveal more fur

The director of Cats, Tom Hooper, has explained his thinking behind some of the creative choices he made in the film – but his comments have left viewers even more confused than before.

Cats had an extremely poor critical reception when it was released last year, and dominated headlines for its strange use of CGI.

It was awarded two stars by The Independent’s critic Clarisse Loughrey, who wrote that the film is “one of those rare cinematic events that feels like a collective hallucination”.

Hooper’s director’s commentary, recorded for the Cats home entertainment release, has not helped to clear up any confusion surrounding the film.

Discussing the bizarre moment Rebel Wilson’s tabby cat unzips her own fur to reveal clothes and then another layer of fur beneath, Hooper says: “This gag is kind of my own tongue-in-cheek way of referencing that I’m using digital fur as clothing because Rebel actually unzips her digital fur to reveal it as clothing.

"But then the joke is that underneath she has more real fur, which of course is not real fur.”

He also reveals it was Wilson’s own idea to have children play the mice that her character enslaves.

In one scene, Wilson bites the heads off cockroaches that have human faces. Inexplicably, Hooper adds: “Women playing cockroaches – whose only unusual trait is that they have an extra pair of arms, in homage to the cockroach number of limbs.”

Elsewhere in the commentary, Hooper admits he has tried bowing down to real-life cats and greeting them with the words ‘Oh, cat’, to see if they respond. “It hasn’t yet worked,” he said, “but I will continue trying.”

Wilson and her Cats co-star James Corden mocked the film’s much-ridiculed VFX at the Oscars earlier this year, appearing on stage in furry costumes and saying: “As cast members of the motion picture Cats, nobody more than us understands the importance of good visual effects!”

In response, the VFX body released a statement saying the joke “demeaned” their craft.