Judi Dench Calls 2019 'Cats' Film a 'Waste' of Lloyd Webber's Talent

Judi Dench has called Tom Hooper's 2019 film Cats "a waste of all that goodwill and talent," breaking her silence on the flop in a forthcoming memoir. The book, Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?, reaches shelves on Nov. 3.

Dench played Old Deuteronomy in the adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber's stage musical. The film, released in 2019, drew a stacked cast — James Corden, Idris Elba and Taylor Swift among them — and still failed with critics and at the box office. Dench herself received a Razzie nomination (the parody award "honoring" the year's worst performances) for her work in it.

"Oh God, I can't bear it – and [Lloyd Webber] had waited so long for it to be made," she writes in the memoir. "What a waste of all that goodwill and talent."

What does Dench actually say about the film?

Dench is careful about where she places blame: nowhere. She says she never saw the final cut, so she "can't judge" the finished film. And she defends the intent behind it.

"All I'll say is nobody sets out to give a poor performance or make a bad film," she writes. "You do your best, offer something up and hope that people will get on board and join the party."

That's a notable position from an actor of Dench's stature. She doesn't dispute the critical reception — she acknowledges "the critics were rather hostile" — but she frames the failure as systemic rather than personal.

"It's a miracle that anything is ever made – films, plays, TV – let alone turn out to be a success, because there are so many moving parts," she writes, speaking about the industry at large.

Why the memoir passage matters

Dench's explanation amounts to a working theory of how productions fail. "Sometimes things just don't work out: the timing's wrong, the cast don't gel, the elements don't coalesce," she writes.

Her bottom line is blunt: "There were no villains in the making of Cats."

What does this change for the film's reputation? Probably little — the critical record on Cats stands. But it adds the perspective the 2019 coverage lacked: a lead performer, and a Razzie nominee at that, arguing the failure was structural, not a matter of effort or intent. As Dench puts it, "if something isn't a success, then there are always things you can say you've learnt."

Readers can judge the full account when Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It? publishes on Nov. 3.