A Director said: "Dave28282 said: "Tom Hooper is completely clueless about this artform.
The essence of this artform is to stay away from realistic norms, as the language is per definition a triumph of the fantasy.
In Les Mis the biggest pitfall was to choose a too literal approach. Because this artform per definition is not. He fell into it.
Result: 2,5 hours of cringe worthy bleating in eachother's face in a literal world.
In Cats the biggest pitfall was to make the characters look too much like humans in a suit. Because there are only 2 routes here that could work, either realistic looking cats, or embracing the fantasy and create more cartoon-esque cats. He fell into it. They look like humans in a suit.
He does not seem to grasp what actually takes audiences on a sincere journey in this artform. I think he might even be convinced that both films work, because he has a different view of what is "real" in this artform than most audience members?
In Les Mis he's apologizing for the singing and the fantasy, in Cats he's apologizing for the cats.
Embracing it is the only option in my opinion. Raw and real, a sincere journey lies in different things from what he thinks.
Dave, Musicals and Film are two DIFFERENT art forms each with its own norms. If you are going to adapt a stage musical into a film, it is important to give this in mind. This is true when adapting a novel for the stage or a novel for the movies!
He won't keep this in mind. Dave wants to see filmed stage shows, not film adaptations of musicals. He has an unrealistic understanding of modern film and the movie business. I do not fault him for this as much as I used to. He is a fan of how old Hollywood did things, but I don't think audiences care for the old ways anymore. The industry has changed, as have the attitudes of audiences. The recent movie musicals that have managed to become successes seem to give credence to that point.
Because he didn't care for choices made in Les Miserables, he often touts it as a failure, and to him it was. Never mind the fact that Hooper delivered a film that was huge financial suceess that was enjoyed by hundreds of thousands, and was nominated for tons of awards that award season. Dave may not care for the movie, but it was a resounding success (even if he measures success differently than most).
That said, the visuals in this film version of Cats are definitely being lambasted for being creepy and unappealing. Because of the response thus far, an argument can definitely be made about the approach taken to bring this to the screen. Even if it truly is terrible, we (and Dave) will still have the 1998 filmed version of the stage show... which, to me, was also baffling, but the stage version was also a monster hit; so clearly, I am the one missing something there.