Andrew Lloyd Webber adopted a therapy dog because of trauma from the movie "Cats"

OPINION: This is an interesting story with, in my view, some undertones. You may remember the movie version of Cats the Musical directed by Tim Hooper. It was made in 2019 and was a disaster with a lot of people criticising it. Personally, I don't think it was as disastrous as people say it was but people started talking about it as a disaster and therefore it was one. It was a self-fulfilling prophecy at the end of the day.

Cats the film. Image: Wikipedia and small in size making it acceptable under fair use.

Glenn Close is a friend of Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber and she recommended that he adopted a therapy dog. The idea was to give him a boost after the upset over the film.

From the perspective of Andrew Lloyd Webber, it was more than that. He wanted to take a dog into the cabin when travelling with airlines in America. And you can do that with a therapy dog, no questions asked. He found that he didn't even have to produce a medical certificate. He just said that he had a dog to get over the trauma of Cats the Film and they let him in!

Personally, I don't think he was that traumatised. I think he used the argument that he was traumatised to get a therapy dog so he could take that dog into the cabin of aircraft. It kind of works backwards.

The Mirror newspaper claims that Lloyd Webber said that the film was terrible and that the stars of the film were very unhappy about it too. But I don't think that is accurate reporting because in the same article the Mirror journalist says that Sir Ian McKellen, who was in the film, alongside Dame Judi Dench, said that he enjoyed working in the film with Judi Dench. He said in fact that he had a "lovely time" making the movie although he has never watched it.

He does say that he is a dog person but the movie changed his mind about cats. He said that people who watched the film would be enchanted by it.

So I'm confused by this story. I think it's been hyped up. The film wasn't successful because of bad publicity. I think Tim Hooper the director, was unfairly criticised. I think he is a good director but this went wrong.

And I also don't think that Lord Andrew Lloyd Webber was traumatised by it! He must have been unhappy because the musical version of Cats was highly successful (it ran for 21 years and 8,949 performances before closing in London). One of the world's most successful musicals ever. So no doubt wanted the same result with the film which was quite an ambitious project.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins. Also, sources for news articles are carefully selected but the news is often not independently verified. And, I rely on scientific studies but they are not 100% reliable. Finally, (!) I often express an OPINION on the news. Please share yours in a comment.

Ryan Reynolds jokes Taylor Swift sued him for using her cats in ‘Deadpool 2’

I have stolen the title from a website called NME. The story is a bit of fun. Ryan Reynolds and Taylor Swift are buddies I believe. So Ryan is taking the Mikey when he said that Taylor sued him for not asking her permission to put photos of her cats on his T-shirt. 

In a recent Sirius XM interview (July 19), Reynolds discussed featuring Swift's cats, Meredith and Olivia, on a T-shirt in his 2018 film. The sequel, Deadpool & Wolverine, is set to hit theatres this week (July 26).

“Yes, I had a T-shirt made. Yes, of [Swift’s cats] Meredith and Olivia on Wade’s shirt,” Reynolds explained during the interview. “Yeah, you know, just little details, that’s all.”

He was asked if he'd got permission and his jokey response was:

 "No, I was sued. I lost everything in that one. And getting sued by a friend is tough to swallow. Also, she has just a lot of very, very powerful lawyers. I found out later those are just the paralegals. The real lawyers didn’t even bother with it. But…I would never do such a thing." Meaning wear a T-shirt with Swift's cats on it."

Here is the video of the podcast (nice location) where the conversation took place.

Taylor's cats get everywhere. There's probably more gossip about her cats than about 90% of the celebrities in the US! 😉💕😃

Ryan Reynolds is a Canadian-American actor, producer, and businessman. He's renowned for his charismatic and often comedic roles, but he's also proven himself as a dramatic actor.

He gained widespread popularity for his portrayal of the irreverent superhero Deadpool in the eponymous film franchise. His witty and self-aware performance in the role solidified his status as a Hollywood A-lister.

Beyond Deadpool, Reynolds has starred in a variety of films, including romantic comedies like The Proposal, action flicks like Blade: Trinity, and even dramas like Buried. He's also known for his entrepreneurial ventures and sharp wit on social media.

Taylor Swift is a Grammy-winning American singer-songwriter known for her candid lyrics and evolving musical style. Rising to fame as a country artist, she's transitioned seamlessly into pop, showcasing her versatility and immense talent. Her dedicated fanbase, the "Swifties," is a testament to her global influence.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Hollywood has run out of ideas

I've been saying this for a long time because it has been a long time coming. Hollywood has run out of ideas. We are seeing constant rehashing of old ideas, old genres but the new versions are probably worse because they use an excessive amount of CGI (and AI?) very often and the product can look very plastic and lacking in gravitas and depth. It appears that the modern movies are made for youngsters who like froth and frivolous stuff. Not serious and well made films but just frothy cartoon stuff.

Hollywood has run out of ideas. Image: MikeB

Perhaps I've got that wrong but that's what it looks like to me. However, I am sure that I have got it right when I say that Hollywood has run out of ideas. That's because you might notice that you've seen things before. Or if not you will be seeing things again that you've seen before on the movies. That's because a quick glance at the list of forthcoming Hollywood films provokes a deep feeling of déjà vu.

You will be seeing Channing Tatum, 44, in a remake of Ghost. She plays the role originally played by the late Patrick Swayze in 1990.

And you may remember that great film Officer and a Gentleman in which Richard Gere starred. He is now 74 years of age. Paramount has lined up Miles Teller, 37, to take on the role again.

And you will see Glen Powell, 35, starring in Twisters. A sequel to the 1996 disaster film Twister.

Glen Powell is attached to remakes of The Running Man, originally featuring Arnold Schwarzenegger in 1987, as well as Heaven Can Wait, based on the 1978 fantasy starring Warren Beatty.

And The Times says that the list goes on. You will see Sydney Sweeney, 26, one of Hollywood's best-known young female actresses starring in a remake of Barbarella. This is a 1968 space fantasy film that featured Jane Fonda who is now 86 years of age.

And the list goes on! This month, The Times reports that it's emerged that A Fistful of Dollars, a 1964 Western that launched Clint Eastwood's career will also get an updated version.

Hollywood is stuck in an era of reboots, remakes and revivals at a time when it appears the industry is in peril. And my argument is and has been for a long time is that the Hollywood whizzkids and gurus have run out of ideas for movies.

And this thought of mine comes about because there is a limited number of ideas! That might seem implausible to some people but I think it's a reasonable suggestion. There are only so many ideas for films. There are only so many storylines.

It brings to mind the problem of music. Ed Sheeran who was sued for copyright breach said that "There is only so many notes and very few chords used in pop music. Coincidences bound to happen if 60,000 songs are being released every day on Spotify".

He saying that there are only so many songs that can be created that are fresh and entirely new. Everything is ultimately rehashed in the music business. It's just repositioning each cord and each note so that the music sounds different.

And the same goes for the film industry. There are only so many ideas and Hollywood has run out of ideas which is why they are rehashing old movies. The other reason why they are rehashing movies is because the cost of production has become very high and they have become very risk averse. They know these movies were successful so they simply remake them in the expectation that they are almost certain to be successful.

Stephen Galloway, Dean of Chapman University's film school in California said that "In entertainment, an idea is worth it's weight in gold".

Ghost with a highly successful film starring Demi Moore. It became the highest grossing film of the year and an Oscar winner. It is considered to be "irresistible to studios" in terms of a remake.

It said that costs have gone through the roof in the film business and marketing is expensive which eats into profit margins. And then you've got streaming demands on Netflix and Amazon Prime et cetera which places greater demand on more and fresh film and series.

The public want fresh, new stuff all the time. But there's a limit to it. Ultimately they are rehashes. Even stuff which looks different is based upon an old idea and rehashed.

There is another threat to Hollywood which is AI. AI can make films or will be able to and it can write scripts and stories. This arguably will undermine the work of writers and animators leaving them jobless. The same fate will befall background actors. Hollywood has reverted to tried and tested film ideas but it seems to me it puts Hollywood in jeopardy of collapsing.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Does the cat Frodo survive in 'A Quiet Place Day One'?

Spoiler warning: Audiences will be happy to know Frodo makes it out alive. Sarnoski, who also wrote the screenplay, grew up with cats and knew he wanted Sam to have an animal companion. 

Lupita Nyong'o overcame fear of cats for A Quiet Place: Day One. The montage is by MikeB from images from Universal as I understand it.

Frodo impressed the director Michael Sarnoski with his nonchalant confidence, rugged looks and intelligent face.

A Quiet Place: Day One is a prequel to the horror films A Quiet Place and A Quiet Place Part II.

The story takes place in New York City on the first day of an alien invasion. The aliens are blind but have super-sensitive hearing, attacking anything that makes a sound.

The main character is Samira (Lupita Nyong'o), a terminally ill woman visiting the city for a day trip. When the invasion begins, Samira finds herself separated from her group and struggling to survive in the chaotic city. 

She encounters other survivors and must learn to navigate the world in silence to avoid the deadly aliens.

The film follows Samira's journey as she searches for a specific location in the city, with a secret motivation revealed later in the story.

Lupita Nyong'o was scared of cats and had to be desensitized to them to play her role with Frodo.

P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Note: I can't put the colon in the title between the words 'place' and 'day' as Google search is confused by colons!

Cats are taking over Hollywood. Great.

It seems to me that Hollywood producers have finally and conclusively switched on to the fact that having a cat in their film enhances its appeal. They have been in films before as we know but it appears that they are more often in Hollywood films nowadays than in the past. 

Film star ginger tabby cat at the Oscars 💕😊. This is a fictional individual!

Here are some examples and a possible reason why cats are taking over Hollywood at the moment. My personal reason is that the Internet has changed people's perceptions about the domestic cat a lot.

Domestic cats are featured in billions of videos and still images. There's a lot of discussion about the cat breeds and cat behaviour. People are far more aware and in tune with feline behaviour and feline attributes. The same goes for dogs but perhaps in a slightly lesser way.

Cats are currently having a big Hollywood meow-ment, with top creatives increasingly casting them in dramatic roles for live-action projects. Let's explore why cats are stepping into the spotlight:

Maine Coon in "Ripley": In Steven Zaillian’s acclaimed Netflix limited series "Ripley", a Maine Coon named Lucio plays a significant role and has been dubbed “a main character.” Lucio's majestic presence adds depth to the show.

Lupita Nyong'o and Her Tuxedo Cat in "A Quiet Place: Day One": In Paramount’s upcoming film "A Quiet Place: Day One", Lupita Nyong'o portrays a woman trying to escape an alien invasion alongside her tuxedo cat, Frodo. The feline companion adds tension and emotional connection to the story.

Ginger Cat in "The Marvels": Last fall, Disney’s "The Marvels" featured a deadly super-powered ginger cat named Goose. This unusual casting choice highlights the growing trend of giving cats more substantial roles in live-action films.

Scottish Fold in "Argylle": In Matthew Vaughn’s spy comedy "Argylle", Bryce Dallas Howard's character is on the run from assassins, accompanied by her Scottish Fold cat, Alfie. Despite initial reservations about using a cat, Alfie became a central character in the movie's marketing campaign.

Why Cats, and Why Now?

Why? While there’s no single reason, several factors contribute to this trend: Zeitgeist: Cats are currently in the cultural zeitgeist, capturing attention across various media platforms. Taylor Swift's cat, Benjamin Button, even graced the cover of Time magazine as “Person of the Year” .

Internet Love: The internet's fascination with cats, from memes to viral videos, has elevated their status and made them endearing to audiences worldwide.

In summary, cats are no longer just props; they're taking center stage in Hollywood, proving that even notoriously independent and unpredictable animals can shine in the spotlight. 🐱🎬.

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P.S. please forgive the occasional typo. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Director of the film 'Argylle' sacked the professional cat actor and used his daughter's cat instead

You know that you can get professional animal actors. I'm talking about cats and dogs usually who are regarded as professional actors. Their owners can make, I guess, a decent amount of money by allowing film producers to use their animals as actors in a film. 

I believe that this is Mr Vaughn with his daughter's Scottish Fold, the non-professional feline actor who became a film star! Image: Fandom Wire.

Clearly, animal actors have to be well behaved, well trained and able to take directions of some sort! You would expect, animal actors to be particularly well-rounded individuals, calm and able to absorb without fuss all the commotion that occurs on a film set with strange people in strange places.

There is an up-and-coming new film due to be aired in 2024 called Argylle and it is directed by Matthew Vaughn. In The Times today he is reported to have told Empire that he had originally hired a professional feline actor.

He said that, "It was very expensive but it wasn't very cute and it was useless."

And so, Mr Vaughan fired the professional cat actor which may have been against union rukes but then I don't think cats are members of any film unions. Vaughn added that, "They don’t have any rights, thank God." Now that's another long discussion because cats do have rights under the law but not of the kind that Vaughn is referring to.

He decided to go up to his daughter's bedroom and he asked whether he could borrow her cat, Chip, for three months.

Chip turned out to be a really good actor. He is the star of the film! Mr Vaughn says, "He was always looking at the right place. I don't want to be rude about some actors I've worked with, but Chip was easier."

So, little Chip, the new feline acting star is now going to be featured in a book and merchandise is going to follow featuring the little fella.

This is partly because he is a cute-looking Scottish Fold. These are the new hot cats because Taylor Swift adopted one. What she touches turns to gold.

It is said that when non-child actors get a break in films because they are the offspring of celebrities and become stars they are described as "Nepo babies".

So, the question is according to Patrick Kidd, the Times journalist, whether "this is the dawn of the nepo kitty".

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P.S. please forgive any typos. These articles are written at breakneck speed using Dragon Dictate. I have to prepare them in around 20 mins.

Darted lion dies during the making of a film involving Oscar winner Will Smith

Darted lion dies during the making of a film involving Will Smith. This is almost certainly NOT the lion in question if the story is true. Image: Twitter.

We have next to nothing on this story but I want to get in early. It is therefore an allegation at this stage. It comes from a tweet which in turn comes from an online newspaper (Sunday Standard). Neither have substantiated the story. We have no evidence that it happened. That's not to say that it did not happen. 

The tweet implies that a lion was tranquillised with a dart in order to successfully capture the desired footage and died perhaps because they used too much tranquilliser.  Tranquillising a big cat is tricky as you have to sedate them but not kill them. A difficult balance. Mistakes have been made before.

Will Smith won an Oscar for King Richard. He is famous for striking Chris Rock the presenter at a subsequent Oscar ceremony.

If the story is correct, this is my assessment without more information. Here is the tweet. Note tweets are sometimes pulled from Twitter for whatever reason and if that happens this embedded version will stop working.

#Lion dies after being darted during a documentary filming by #American Oscar winning Hollywood actor Will Smith in #Botswana. Once again #wildlife suffers for human greed & entertainment😡https://t.co/axVraYJuLo pic.twitter.com/HVXZHY97Hz

— Sue Spurgin (@SueSpurgin) July 8, 2023

As her godfather Steven Spielberg gave Drew Barrymore a female cat

Drew Barrymore was the child star daughter of John Drew Barrymore who was an abusive alcoholic. Drew Barrymore starred in the film ET when she was 6-years-old. She believed that the model of the alien ET was a real alien. 

Drew Barrymore and one of her rescue cats 2023. Photo: Tidy Cats.

In order to protect this useful thought as it helped Drew to perform with more conviction, Spielberg ensured that ET acted as a real alien all the time even when they were not filming by directing that two operators continued to operate the model at all times.

Drew admits that she did not have real parents. As mentioned, her father was alcoholic and she had a 'very difficult and painful' relationship with her mother who she continued to support for years.

Because of this lack of parenting, she asked Spielberg if he would be her father. He declined but agreed to be her godfather. They were very close.

Drew and ET who she believed was real. Image: Universal.

In accordance with his duties in that role he gave her a female cat that Drew named Gertie. The Times newspaper reports that the website Vulture say that that she would take Gertie to Disneyland.

Despite her troubled childhood and taking to drugs at the tender age of 10 when she smoked cannabis for the first time and snorted cocaine when 12, Drew had a successful acting career after rehabilitation.

Today she has seven pets including four rescue cats

"I love seeing animals first thing in the morning. I love it when they sleep on the bed with me"

She loves animals and she looks great and healthy in recent photographs. Well done, Drew.

Kate Winslet replaced by cat 'Lizzy' in ‘Titanic’ parody video

This is a parody of Titanic (1997) starring 'OwlKitty' on YouTube. The motivation behind the video came from the creator's desire to combine their cat, Lizzy, and "our green screen in a funny, silly way". In other words, they wanted to put their cat, Lizzy, in a movie. 

Parody: "an imitation of the style of a particular writer, artist, or genre with deliberate exaggeration for comic effect". 

The video was created by the cat's owners, Tibo Charroppin, a filmmaker and an animator, and Olivia Boone, a creative writer and content editor.

As you can see, they make content with their 'prima donna' cat Lizzy. They have made other parodies including The Avengers, Jurassic Park, Pulp Fiction and others. 

Screenshot from video.

Tibo said that on average it takes about two weeks to make this sort of video. As an interesting snippet of information. It always interested me as to how long it took to make these videos. Two weeks is a very long time which tells us how technical it must have been. I must say they did a great job.

I'm not the only person who appreciates the level of expertise that goes into making these sorts of videos. Tammy Nevills expressed her views on social media below. 

Reason why Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Louis Wain 'the man who drew cats'

Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Louis Wain because he was an oddball and the actor wants society to accept oddballs. And perhaps he feels that Wain was treated unfairly as some believe that he did not suffer from schizophrenia. It may have been a misdiagnosis.

You may have heard that Benedict Cumberbatch is playing Louis Wain in a new film about this internationally recognised artist who anthropomorphised cats and who entertained millions. Wain suffered from schizophrenia and lived the last years of his life in a mental hospital near St Albans, Hertfordshire, which incidentally I visited as a photographer many years ago. No, I was not in the hospital as a patient! 

It has been developed and is now a housing estate as I understand it. At the time it was quite dour and inhospitable but there is an argument that there is a place for mental hospitals but nowadays they believe that it is better to assist people with mental health issues in the community. I don't know whether that has failed or not. Wain died at the hospital in 1939.

Benedict Cumberbatch and Claire Foy in the Louis Wain film. Image: Album/Alamy.

But to get back to Louis Wain and Benedict Cumberbatch. Cumberbatch has said that people should be more sensitive to outsiders and oddballs in society. It seems that he has assessed Louis Wain as an oddball after studying him so that he could play him accurately. And if this is true, Cumberbatch is clearly a sensitive and decent person. I would certainly agree with his sentiments.

Society tends to reject outsiders. I think it goes back to an ancient tribal instinct. Anybody who is different is dangerous. If they are dangerous, they should be shunned. It's a rather crude mental process but that's my assessment. Although Louis Wain was very popular. H G Wells, observed that Louis Wain "invented a cat style, a cat society, a whole cat world. English cats that do not look and live like Louis Wain cats are ashamed of themselves."

The film about Louis Wain is called The Electrical Life of Louis Wain. I believe that it is to be released quite soon. I wonder if Cumberbatch decided to take part because he wanted to support outsiders.

Louis Wain was prolific artist. He had a strict upbringing in a Victorian family and has been described as a sickly child with a harelip. Dr. Desmond Morris says that his upbringing led him to become rebellious in later life which took the "form of a sentimental, infantile sense of humour". This led to his "cloyingly sweet pictures". But it was this that gave them their strength and attractiveness. Dr. Desmond Morris says that in his drawings he was able to "unleash his own, hitherto suppressed childhood".

Louis Wain designed the badge of the National Cat Club and he was invited to become its second President. He was probably the most famous feline Illustrator of all time.

Spike in Black Cat Adoptions Because of Black Panther Film Is Worrying

We are told that the latest CGI, all action, fantasy film for young people called Black Panther has resulted in a sharp spike in adoptions of black cats at shelters in America. On the face of it is excellent news. Of course it is. Black cats are unpopular. Anything to improve their adoption rate must be welcomed.

Photos copyright Helmi Flick

However, being cynical as I am, my mind turned to the apparent fecklessness of this phenomenon. Whereas normally people are reluctant to adopt black cats, when a popular film which is a transient form of entertainment alters opinions overnight such that black cat adoptions rise steeply then it seems to me that the people who are suddenly adopting these cats may change their minds in the not too distant future once they have hit reality and realized that they are not adopting a miniature black panther but a real cat with all the incumbent responsibilities.

Perhaps I'm being too cynical. Of course I welcome the news. Apparently these adopters are keen to adopt black panthers but they can't do that because black panthers are either melanistic leopards, jaguars or cougars. They are large wild cats which are black or near black and pretty well impossible to have as pets. Although it must be said that some people do have mountain lions as pets.

Driven by the desire to have a black panther as a pet they turn to black domestic cats instead and these people name their cats after the names of the characters in the film. It almost seems like they want to play act the film in their living rooms. It doesn't feel good to me.

Incidentally, there is a black cat which is purebred. It is the Bombay Cat. This is a standard shaped domestic cat in all respects save that the coat has been selectively bred to be shiny, jet black like patent leather shoes. They might like to adopt one of these cats. A picture of this cat is featured on this page.

It would be nice to do a follow-up page on this story to see whether the sharp increase in adoptions of black cats persists. One blogger mentioned that her local pet shelters have been cleared out of black cats whereas normally there are between 50 and 60 left languishing in cages because nobody wants them. A pleasant phenomenon indeed but is it enduring?

Siamese Cats and Film Stars

Because the Siamese cat was considered very exotic and special for the first 70 years of its life as a cat breed it is not surprising that a number of film stars kept Siamese cats or a Siamese cat.

You can read about them on this page. All of the film stars are from a bygone era as is the exotic nature of the Siamese cat. It is now a popular mainstream cat breed. It is the wildcat hybrids, particularly the first filials that have taken over the role of exotic cat.

Pyewacket is the Siamese cat witch's familiar in the film Bell, Book and Candle. It is a fine film starring Kim Novak and Jimmy Stewart. Pyewacket is a name for a witch's cat going back to the time of witches:

I have a page on the film Bell, Book and Candle.

Si and Am Siamese Cats

Si and Am are the two Siamese cats in the successful and well known Walt Disney animated feature film, "The Lady and the Tramp".

Here they are:



Please note that videos like this one sometimes get pulled off the internet for breach of copyright so you might see a blank screen in due course.

If that happens this is a screenshot:

Si and Am in the Siamese cat song from Lady and the Tramp

Note: concerning copyright: I claim fair use as the picture is small, is uncompetitive vis-a-vis the original work and it promotes the original work.