'Cats' director Hooper stops in Korea in hopes for another musical craze

Director Tom Hooper, right, and singer-actress Ok Joo-hyun pose with a painting of the musical film “Cats” during a press conference for the film at Yongsan CGV in Seoul, Dec. 23. Yonhap

By Lee Gyu-lee

Director Tom Hooper has released his second musical film following the success of "Les Miserables," and he came to Korea in hopes to spark a musical sensation here once again with the film adaptation of the long-loved musical show “Cats.”

“I'm delighted to be in Korea for the very first time. I wanted to come ever since the extraordinary reaction that Les Miserables received here,” the director said during a press conference for “Cats” at Yongsan CGV in Seoul, Dec. 23.

In 2012, Hooper's screen adaptation of “Les Miserables” won the heart of Korean moviegoers with a riveting story and emotional performances by stars like Hugh Jackman, Anne Hathaway and Russell Crowe. The film saw almost 6 million ticket sales in Korea. Its exceptional popularity opened up the door for musical films to succeed in the local box office.

Noting that he was “profoundly grateful and amazed at the audience's response” with the film, the director said he specifically chose to visit Korea on a press tour to express his gratitude for such a reception his movie received in the country.

“Because Les Miserables connected in such an extraordinary way here, I wanted to thank the audiences for embracing the film,” he said adding that it felt more special as he put in a lot of love when making that Oscar-winning musical. “Les Miserables” was the first musical film Hooper directed.

After starting his career working for television in the 1990s, the director made a successful transition to the silver screen with the 2004 film “Red Dust.” In 2010, he proved himself to be one of the most in-demand directors in the world with the success of the award-winning film “King's Speech.”

About seven years after “Les Miserables” swept the local box offices, “Cats” hit local theaters on Dec. 24.

A scene from the film adaptation of the musical “Cats” which features lively performances by the A-list cast members. Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Comparing the whimsical “Cats” to the emotional drama of “Les Miserables,” the director expressed his hopes to win Korean moviegoers over the second time with his latest flick.

“I think Les Miserables was a very emotional film and I think Koreans are passionate people, so there was a connection there. Cats is quite a different musicals from that film because it's performance-driven,” he noted. “But it does have emotional performances like Jennifer Hudson singing Memory as Grizabella.”

Universal's “Cats” is a cinematic adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's hit musical, which was based on T. S. Eliot's 1939 poetry collection “Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats.” The musical of felines performing catchy songs with rhyming lyrics has been one of the longest-running stage shows around the world.

The big-budget, star-laden film adaptation pulls out vibrant, festive entertainment with performances by big names like Taylor Swift playing Bombalurina, James Corden playing Bustopher Jones and Judi Dench playing Old Deuteronomy.

“I think Korean audiences have a particular love of music. I can see that from the way they saw Les Miserables. And this film has also got some great musical performances in it from the cast,” he commented, showing confidence in his actors.

The film puts focus on young cat Victoria, played by Francesca Hayward ― the Royal Ballet principal dancer who made her movie debut with this piece. The story starts as she is abandoned by a human in an alley and meets a group of stray cats.

The film follows through the central character Victoria, middle, as she finds her own place in the gang after being abandoned. Courtesy of Universal Pictures

Hooper explained that he selected Victoria as a central character to cinematize the stage show for film.

“In many ways, this is a coming-of-age story for her, being plunged into this confusing and chaotic environment and meeting a gang of cats. And this is about her finding her ways through this world and as she goes on the journey meeting these wonderful characters,” he said.

“And through that journey, she finds someplace of her own. Big themes of the film are finding a home, finding acceptance and finding a place in the world.”

As Victoria meets the crew along the way, the flick continues with a nonstop series of performances by each character introducing themselves. Hooper said his biggest challenge in bringing the musical to the screen was trying to strengthen the story while managing individual performances.

“There are very strong, detailed story and source material from this beautiful collection of poems from T.S Eliot,” he said. “So one of the biggest challenges was strengthening the story from musical to film, and also embracing the work of a performance-led film which is about celebrating individual performances by incredible casts with singing and dancing.”

The most important purpose of directing the movie was “to do justice to the wonderful stage show” that he fell in love with when he first saw the show in childhood.

“I was awfully enchanted and transfixed (after seeing the show)… So I think most of all, I wanted to honor that experience as a child and make sure I make something that eight-year-old Tom, now, will also be transported by,” he said.

“I wanted to make a film for all ages as a family film. I particularly wanted to introduce a new generation of cats through the magic of cinema as best as I could.”

Making a personal connection in adopting the musical into the film, Hooper referred to this movie as his “love letter” to London where he was born and raised.

“The musical is set in one place so for the film, I tried to make it more cinematic, allowing (characters) to move around the streets of the West End in London.”

The film is set in the streets of the West End in London where director Hooper made a special connection with the city where he was born and raised. Courtesy of Universal Pictures

However, despite his love for the show and his version of a film adaptation, the film faced polarizing reviews after its world premiere in New York on Dec. 16.

A lot of criticisms were toward the film's oddly done computer-generated imagery (CGI) transformation of human actors into cats. Soon after the criticism poured in after the premiere, Universal was reported to have made technical updates to improve visual effects.

Aside from the alienating feline appearances, the performances itself seem far from being show-stopping enough to carry away audiences with its minimal storyline. Not much story is narrated and is seemingly unconvincing for audiences to bear the series of performance after another, all building up for the last moment of Hudson's emotional “Memory” performance as a forlorn stray cat.

In response to the criticism of the movie, Hooper responded with confidence that he's proud of the production team's work with special effects.

“In terms of reviews, I generally don't read reviews but I've seen The Financial Times' and Daily Mail's which had a split response,” he said. “I do believe it's the kind of film that because it's breaking new ground, something that audiences will be hopefully surprised by and go on the magical journey of the film.”

“Cats” opened at the second spot in the local box office, but has fallen to sixth on Saturday, drawing about 660,000 ticket sales.