The trailer for the upcoming live-action movie of CATS the musical has landed.
I think it has some amazing visuals going on, although the anthropomorphic/naked cat look will take a bit of getting used to.
Along the way, there looks to be some fantastic casting with Rebel Wilson as 'Jennyanydots,' Sir Ian McKellen as 'Gus the theater cat,' Dame Judi Dench as 'Deuteronomy,' and James Corden as 'Bustopher Jones.'
Oh, and Oscar winner Jennifer Hudson belts out the show's hit tune, "Memory," throughout.
Judi Dench in CATS
In theaters this Christmas. Take a look below.
Longtime readers of The Randy Report may recall being cast in the national touring company of CATS back in the mid-80s was my first big gig after moving to New York City.
And by 'Dame,' I mean those delicious British divas, Dames Maggie Smith, Judi Dench, Joan Plowright, and Eileen Atkins, who are featured in the upcoming documentary, Tea with the Dames.
Set in a British country house, the four actresses spend a day together allowing cameras to capture friendships dating back more than half a century. The four icons chat on their careers and spill the 'tea' a bit.
In a one-minute teaser below, Judi Dench shares her belief that “We’re going to work forever, if we’re asked.”
Without a pause, Maggie Smith, who knows how to drop a good line, replies, “But, you’re always asked first, if I may say so.”
“I’m turning on you, it’s all coming out now,” Smith says with a hint of smile.
Plowright, after adjusting her hearing aid, chimes in saying her American agent has told her in the past that they are always on the lookout for “a nice cameo that Judi Dench hasn’t got her paws on.”
Brilliant.
EW also reports that the grand 'Dames' didn't go easy on the film crew either.
The session gets off to a shady start right from the get-go as the women pose for a photo while cutting the crew down to size.
“That’s an awful angle. It’s not fair to old ladies,” Atkins quips as Smith cackles before asking an off-camera photographer, “Is it your first day?”
When asked about working with their husbands, Plowright admits, "Obviously mine was the most difficult."
Smith, again with the dry retort, "Well, we all found him tricky."
For those who miss Smith’s drop-dead delivery, you’ll be happy to know the upcoming Downton Abbey movie has announced a release date of September 20, 2019.
Here's the full trailer for Tea with the Dames. Take a break and enjoy the shade with the ‘Dames.’
Tea with the Dames is in limited release on September 21.
Judi Dench stars in the title role of Philomena Lee, a woman determined to recover a son she was forced to give up for adoption in the 1950s, when she bore the child out of wedlock within a conservative Irish Catholic community.
With the assistance of a reporter from the BBC (Steve Coogan), Philomena embarks on her quest for reunion and redemption with a grown son, who, as she discovers, is a gay politician.
Based on a true story, the film has garnered acclaim from critics, who hail Dench’s performance as well as the screenplay, written by Coogan, which moves the audience to both laughter and tears.
Philomena premieres this weekend in New York and Los Angeles. Watch the trailer below.
Academy Award winner Judi Dench said in an interview published Saturday that she had been diagnosed with macular degeneration, an eye condition which can cause blindness, and that her eyesight was already so bad that she couldn't even read her own scripts.
The 77-year-old told the Daily Mirror that she was relying on friends and family to keep her up to speed with her lines.
"It's usually my daughter or my agent or a friend and actually I like that, because I sit there and imagine the story in my mind," she told the newspaper during an interview at a London hotel. "The most distressing thing is in a restaurant in the evening I can't see the person I'm having dinner with."
She won an Academy Award for her role as Queen Elizabeth I in "Shakespeare in Love" and is best known to international audiences as intelligence boss M in the James Bond series.
However, my favorite performance is this one: a reprisal of her "Desiree" from A Little Night Music:
