Animated Film

Animated Film
1991 Visual Idea Collection, done by Hans Bacher
Opening Date	Cancelled
Production Team
Producers	Andrew Lloyd Webber Steven Spielberg Amblin Entertainment / Amblimation

Animated film adaptations of Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats have been considered many times over the years, including adaptations of the musical. As yet, none have come to fruition.

Disney

T S Eliot specifically did not want his Jellicle Cats turned into cutesy cartoon cats and turned down a Disney animated feature of Old Possum's. Disney went on to make The Aristocats instead. According to Andrew Lloyd Webber, one of the first things Eliot's widow, Valerie, told him when he met her to get the rights to make the musical was "You, realise, don't you, that Tom turned down Disney?"

Amblin Entertainment 1990

Under the direction of Steven Spielberg, the animated feature was to be set during the Blitz in London (1940-1941), with a visual style similar to the writings of German theatre practitioner Berthold Brecht. It was to be released by Universal Pictures.

American animator Michael Peraza worked on the project around 1990, during the development of the initial story, using early computer generation to create around 50 concept sketches, made up of story sketches, concept art, and combining CGI sets that he had modelled. Spielberg responded favourably to these concept pieces, with future development using similar techniques.

In September 1991, Hans Bacher, a visual designer and animator, joined the small team at Amblin, where the two directors, Simon Wells and Phil Nibbelink, together with Shelley Page, had been working on the animated adaptation of the musical for a few months. The initial plan in designing the scenery for the film was to combine built miniature models together with traditional animation. A limited use of early computer generation was used to conceptualized the atmosphere using the built models, with Wells designing the environment and Page supervising the model building.

To further develop the realism in making background scenes accurate to war-torn London, Bacher toured rougher parts of the city in late 1991 with the original stage/set and character designer of the musical, John Napier, and with the Amblin project team, including producer Cindy Woodburne. Bacher also took inspiration from the German Expressionist woodcut artist Frans Masereel, as well as other German artists in the 'Die Bruecke' artist collective comprised of Kaethe Kollwitz, Max Pechstein, Karl Schmidt-Rottluff, and Emil Nolde. Together with the reference photos from the London tour, in additional to historic photographs from the time of destroyed London, Bacher created a series of black-and-white concept art pieces in the woodcut style, using white correction fluid on black cardboard, with finer details on the rougher white areas made with black feltpen. He later painted a selection of the rough sketches with felt-pen and gouache, to create a limited color palette and copying the reduced high-contrast look.

Further 3-D testing in regards to the look were to be created, but due to the expense of the initial model building there was no remaining budget. As a result, Bacher instead improvised and built the model himself, using a model car from the 1940s that was destroyed with a hammer, placed around styrofoam, some small toy pieces, and plaster. This was used to perform the desired 3-D testing with the model on an oxberry stand.

According to Carlos Grangel, another of artists involved with the animated film, the project had different scripts and new characters created for it, and was intended to be an ambitious movie that differed greatly from the traditional stage production of Cats. Carlos worked initially alone around 1992 in London, before having his studio, Grangel Studio, in Barcelona join the project. Another artist, Italian Luca Fattore, joined the project around the same time.

Due to a lack of agreement on various aspects, particularly with the story of the film, within the higher level production team, the project was cancelled in early 1992 for the first time by Amblin Entertainment, after six months of work. The animated film Balto was created instead, utilizing many of the same artists involved with the cancelled Cats project.

Amblimation 1994

In 1994, it was announced that Steven Spielberg's Amblimation was again set to begin production on a full-length animated feature version of Cats, to be released by Universal Pictures in 1997.

In September 1995, the Really Useful Group's website stated:

“	Production has begun on the full-length, animated feature version of Cats. Based on a screenplay by Tony Award-winning playwright Tom Stoppard, the Amblimation production will be released by Universal Pictures in 1997 and will feature a new song written for the film.	”
	— www.reallyuseful.com

Carlos Grangel was once again involved with the project, working in Los Angeles with Nicolas Marlet, another artist. Illustrator Luc Desmarchelier created additional concept art of the scenes envisioned during the initial preproduction between 1994 and 1995, using gouache and acrylic on paper for coloured pieces and pencil sketches for those in black-and-white.

Amblimation ended up closing in 1997 and the project was thus cancelled for the final time, and the majority of the animation team employed by Amblimation joined DreamWorks. The 1998 Cats film as we know it then went into production instead after the second preproduction cancellation.

Amblin Entertainment and Steven Spielberg went on to be involved with the 2019 Cats motion picture, and elements of their early concept art for the animated feature are recognisable in the style of the finished movie.

Production and Script Details

Quotes taken from "Herding Cats; or, The Possibilities of Unproduction Studies" by Peter C. Kunze, as published in The Velvet Light Trap (Fall 2017, vol. 80, pages 18-31).

• The initial challenges screenwriter Tom Stoppard faced:

“	Stoppard began work on Cats in February 1994, and his first hurdle was, beyond the lack of a discernible plot, the sheer length of the show. The running time for Cats exceeded two hours; an animated film, as a costly, hand-drawn endeavor targeted toward a family audience, would have been ninety minutes long, ideally shorter. The loose arrangement of the songs in the original show necessitated moving them around while editing some songs down or removing them altogether.	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

“	Time and space, in particular, proved difficulties for Stoppard. For the original stage show, John Napier had designed an elaborate junkyard set, with shadows and pools of light to simulate nighttime and fuel the mystical, magical spirit of Cats. Stoppard wanted to include a sequence in the daytime to allow for events to unfold more naturally, but Nunn feared such a temporal move would mean humans would or could enter the narrative, "bring[ing] with them problems of scale and style." Furthermore, the poems place action in Kings Cross and at the Thames River, which, in reality, are roughly two miles apart—an unreasonable distance to expect these cats to inhabit throughout the span of the film.	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

• Discussions over how human-like the cats should be:

“	Consequently, Stoppard had to imagine a title sequence for which the overture could be adapted and in which the cats could be introduced to the audience. He suggested they could appear twice: as humans perceive them and as cats do. This doubling revealed an interpretative crux that goes back to Eliot's book itself: Are the cats human-like (dressed in clothes, for example), or do their natural features motivate those perceptions? Stoppard was unsure but argued, "The charm and cleverness of the papers consists in Eliot's bringing off—constantly—a 'human interpretation' of ordinary cat-behaviour."	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

“	To illustrate this effect, Stoppard explained that Bustopher Jones, whom Eliot described as "this Brummell of Cats" in reference to his dapper and haughty appearance, "doesn't actually wear trousers and spats: that's his colouring." Nunn erred toward a comic "double-take" effect, wherein the cats are alternately cats and human-like. Part of the justification for this reason lay in normal cat behavior being "much less fun for the animators."	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

• The need for a main protagonist:

“	They differed on the extent of characterization for Rum Tum Tugger, a swaggering tomcat with a Mick Jagger–like persona, and Mr. Mistoffelees, a playful young cat with magical powers. In the stage show, both have striking, prominent roles—as well as their own introductory songs—but Nunn contended that developing them further "would make the whole project a different show—which then invites negative questions about why it was attempted." The stage show had no major characters, save perhaps Grizabella, but the conventions of Hollywood storytelling required a goal-oriented protagonist (or protagonists) to orient the narrative trajectory. Which cat would emerge from the ensemble as said protagonist became a source of contention among the creative team.	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

• The proposed plot:

“	Arguably, as a stage show, the lead characters are Old Deuteronomy and Grizabella, but the screenplay elevates Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer to central roles. They almost drown in the opening scene, only to be saved by Demeter, who introduces them into the world of the Jellicle Cats. Stoppard cast Grizabella as a Jellicle cat who was rejected by the other Jellicles because she loved Macavity; when he rejects her, she has no one and wanders around pathetically. Macavity kidnaps Old Deuteronomy, and the Jellicles respond by forming a search party. The original plans called for Macavity to be electrocuted on the live rail of the train tracks during a confrontation with Mr. Mistoffelees, but Stoppard instead had Macavity swept away by rushing water during a showdown on the bridge with Mungojerrie. From here, the film would return to the stage version: Old Deuteronomy would return to the Jellicles and select Grizabella to ascend to the Heaviside Layer. While the screenplay remained faithful to much of Nunn's treatment, the true challenge for Stoppard appeared to be in condensation, both in moving the action along and jettisoning unnecessary songs or shortening those songs that would remain in the film.	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

• Further script changes:

“	Suggestions included a more developed backstory for Grizabella, further emphasis on the threat posed by Macavity the Mystery Cat (who will kidnap Old Deuteronomy in the central storyline), and positioning Demeter as the central female love interest. Again, the authors considered the animators' interests, suggesting an expansion of Mr. Mistoffelees, whom an unspecified participant described as "an animator's dream come true with his magical powers and dazzling display of tricks." The film did have one considerable rut: its timing surpassed one hundred minutes, fifteen minutes more than the ideal length. To accommodate this problem, the authors decided both to scale back the musical numbers and to remove some characters entirely.	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

• Disagreements over the characters:

“	While the nameless Universal executives had requested more emphasis on Demeter's characterization, Spielberg wanted refocused attention on Mungojerrie and Rumpleteazer, the playful pair of cat burglars whom Eliot describes as "knockabout clowns, quick-change comedians, tight-rope walkers and acrobats." For Spielberg, at least, they were clearly the lead characters, and their storyline "embod[ied] the movie's theme and microcosm." This reading of Cats curiously countered efforts by Lloyd Webber and Nunn, neither of whom saw the two as protagonists, though they did discuss plans to have Mungojerrie long for Demeter.	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

“	In his extensive feedback to Stoppard, Spielberg was sparse on praise: Macavity's introduction was misplaced, Rum Tum Tugger's song "literally stop[ped] the show," Grizabella's presence was sporadic and "not very satisfying," Old Deuteronomy needed to be warmer, perhaps even charmingly senile.	”
	— "Herding Cats", PC Kunze

Gallery

Scene Concept Art

Old Deuteronomy Concept Art, ~1991

Demeter Concept Art, ~1995

References

Resources:

• Information from Hans Bacher's blog.
• Luc Desmarchelier also blogs about the development.