Jason Derulo answers all of our burning questions about Cats

The singer makes his film debut in the new screen adaptation of Cats
The Weekender

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In a year dominated by end-of-an-era blockbusters like Avengers: Endgame and Star Wars: The Rise of Skywalker, one unlikely contender has managed to cut through the noise to become arguably the most talked about film of 2019: it’s… Cats.

When the first trailer for Tom Hooper’s musical adaptation landed online this summer, showing off its star-studded cast - Jennifer Hudson! Judi Dench! Jason Derulo! - in feline form thanks to “digital fur technology,” it captured the Internet’s collective imagination and has so far notched up 13 million views on YouTube.

It also left us with plenty of questions as to how the cast and crew managed to translate Andrew Lloyd Webber’s musical - based in turn on a collection of T.S. Eliot poems - from the stage to the screen.

Who better to answer all those questions than Derulo, who plays spotlight-loving cat Rum Tum Tugger in his first film role? Here's what we learned from the singer...

How did you get involved with the film?

Derulo “sang, did some improv, read, danced, did the whole nine yards” in his initial audition for director Tom Hooper. “And then shortly after, they called my agent and said they’d like me to be a part of it,” he adds. The rest, as they say, was history.

Why did you want to sign up?

Cats marks the film debut of Derulo, who is best known for his decade-long music career thanks to tracks including Ridin’ Solo and Want You To Want Me. He’d been looking for his “entrance” to acting for “a long time,” he reveals - and Cats provided a “great, great opportunity” to make it in style.

“That entrance was really important to me,” he says. “I get scripts all the time; nothing spoke to me as an introduction to the acting side like Cats did.

“Cats is a legendary musical, obviously, and I needed something that was going to be a legacy role and this is exactly that.”

How did you practice your British accent?

Derulo’s Rum Tum Tugger has a Cockney twang - but the musician didn’t hone his estuary accent by watching back episodes of EastEnders. “I’ve always been obsessed with the English accent in particular,” he reveals. “I do love doing accents but the English accent is probably my favourite.

“But I did work with a dialect coach as well, to sharpen up my skills. She would tell me when things weren’t sounding authentic enough.”

How did you learn to move like a cat?

The cast enrolled in “cat school” ahead of filming. “We were sitting in a room and [the teacher] would tell us all the ins and outs about cats, their mannerisms,” he explains. “We had to implement those things within our character.” Attending cat lessons with Sir Ian McKellan and Dame Judi Dench? Sounds like our dream Saturday afternoon activity.

Did you get to choose what your cat looked like?

Cats, The Musical: Film Characters 2019 - In pictures

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The star was able to “choose [his] accessories,” decking himself out with a furry coat, chain and exaggerated collar, but reckons the design team “hit it on the nose.”

“I didn’t think I needed to do anything crazy,” he says. “Just a little tailoring here and there, you know what I’m saying?”

What did you think about the reaction to your character?

It’s fair to say that the Cats trailer took the Internet by storm upon its release in July - and a short clip of Derulo’s character appearing through a letterbox generated its fair share of discussion.

“I think people think my cat is a sexy cat,” he muses of Rum Tum Tugger’s Big Cat Energy. “I find that actually hilarious, because that’s not what I was going for at all.

“But I think what people find attractive is when someone is so confident in themselves, it’s just attractive. You can get engaged to somebody that’s engaged in themselves.”

Did your music career prepare you for live singing on set?

Derulo sings “every single day,” so he wasn’t daunted by director Hooper’s preference for live singing, which he previously pioneered for the 2013 film adaptation of Les Miserables. The physical demands of the role, however, “was probably the most challenging thing.”

“I don’t run through the streets every single day singing, so that was an added bit of cardio during performance,” he says. “But I think I’m a better performer for it. It was literally running from kitchen [set] to city [set], it was crazy.”

Cats is out in cinemas on December 20.

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