At 91 years old, Dame Judi Dench has no shortage of iconic roles and spectacular performances to her name.
The esteemed actor and grand dame of theatre won her first Oscar for her portrayal of Queen Elizabeth I in Shakespeare in Love (1998) and earned further nods as the author Iris Murdoch in Iris (2001) and a mother searching for her lost son in Philomena (2013).
Along the way, she has also charmed international audiences as M, the formidable and not-to-be-trifled-with head of MI6, in no fewer than eight James Bond films from 1995 to 2015.
There is one role, however, that fans may be quick to forget – and that Dench herself might like to. The actor played Old Deuteronomy in the disastrous and universally panned 2019 film adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber musical Cats.
The film, which also starred Taylor Swift, James Corden, and Idris Elba, was widely ridiculed over its use of CGI and bombed at the box office.
In her forthcoming memoir Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It? – a rollicking read that traverses the highs and lows of Dench’s career – the actor speaks out in detail about the experience for the first time.
“Oh God, I can’t bear it – and [Lloyd Webber] had waited so long for it to be made,” she said. “What a waste of all that goodwill and talent.
“I understand the critics were rather hostile to the film. I never saw the final cut so I can’t judge. All I’ll say is nobody sets out to give a poor performance or make a bad film. You do your best, offer something up and hope that people will get on board and join the party.”
Speaking about the film landscape more generally, Dench added: “It’s a miracle that anything is ever made – films, plays, TV – let alone turn out to be a success, because there are so many moving parts.”
She concluded: “Sometimes things just don’t work out: the timing’s wrong, the cast don’t gel, the elements don’t coalesce. But people’s intentions are mostly honourable.
“There were no villains in the making of Cats. And if something isn’t a success, then there are always things you can say you’ve learnt.”
It is the first time that Dench has spoken about the film in detail, though in 2020, she did say that she was perplexed by her appearance in the film.
Having expected to be wearing an elegant costume, Dench said she ended up looking like “a battered, mangy old cat. A great big orange bruiser. What’s that about?”
Previous to that, the actor had also responded to news that she had been nominated for a Razzie “bad acting” award for her performance in Cats, stating: “Oh, am I? That would be good. As far as I know, that’s a first.”
Dench is also not the only one of the cast to not have seen the final film, with Corden – who played Bustopher Jones – revealing in 2019 that he had only “heard it’s terrible”.
Webber, meanwhile, has made no secret of his hatred of the film adaptation of his hit 1981 musical, itself an adaptation of TS Eliot’s poetry collection Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats.
In 2020, the famed composer said director Tom Hooper did not consult those involved in the original show when working on his adaptation, stating: “The whole thing was ridiculous.”
The stage musical was the fifth-longest-running show on Broadway and the eighth-longest-running show on the West End.
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