Robbie Fairchild, the dancer and actor who played Munkustrap 2019’s Cats, confirmed that he has not only seen the legendary  “Butthole Cut” of the film, but that it also features a ton of CGI nipples.

Speaking to Page Six, Fairchild claims to have seen the early cut of the film, in which issues with the “digital fur technology” made it appear as if the film’s feline characters had visible anuses and female genitalia. “It was my favorite thing in the world,” he said. “They gave me eight nipples. They were like radioactive pink.”

How the visual effects of Tom Hooper’s Cats adapted human figures to cat-like forms has been a regular subject of morbid fascination and controversy. Jason Derulo, the singer who played the Rum Tum Tugger in the film, had complaints that the CGI shrunk his bulge — an improvised line from Rebel Wilson during Rum Tum Tugger’s big introductory musical number speculates that the curious cat was neutered. Certain cats, such as Rebel Wilson’s Jennyanydots and Taylor Swift’s Bombalurina, had pronounced shapely figures but no nipples, and certainly no indication of ever having eight anatomically accurate ones.

Fairchild, who will perform as part of the upcoming Fall for Dance at City Center and the Vail International Dance Festival, looks back on the experience of acting in the much-maligned Cats movie fondly, saying “If you’re going to be in a flop, be in a big one.” He had a great time on set, where he made friends with screen legend Judi Dench (who played Old Deuteronomy in the film). “I was playing [word game] Bananagrams with Judi Dench in between takes, and she would teach me Shakespeare sonnets… Judi texts me. We have stayed involved in each other’s lives. What kind of wild world is that? It’s so f–king cool.”

Fairchild’s perspective on the experience sounds a fair bit more positive than Dench’s, who was disappointed with how they made her character look, though she did come around to appreciate the film’s ironic cult following. It’s significantly more positive than that of composer Andrew Lloyd Webber, who described the experience as “ridiculous” without a positive word to say about the Razzie-winning adaptation of his Tony-winning musical.

Source: Page Six