Judi Dench Calls 'Cats' Movie a Total Waste, Says It Squandered Andrew Lloyd Webber's Talent

Judi Dench isn't holding back in her new memoir. The acting icon, who played Old Deuteronomy in Tom Hooper's infamous "Cats" film, is calling the whole thing out as a waste—not just of time, but of Andrew Lloyd Webber's considerable gifts as a composer and creator.

The 2019 movie adaptation had all the ingredients on paper: a stacked cast, a beloved stage musical, serious budget backing. And then... yeah. It became one of the most mocked films in recent memory. Dench's blunt assessment in her upcoming book "Is It Too Late to Make a Run For It?" confirms what a lot of people suspected—even the talent involved knew something had gone deeply wrong.

You respect an artist willing to own a mistake instead of pretending it was all part of the vision. Dench isn't doing press to rehab the film's reputation. She's just being real about it. Sometimes that's the healthiest move: acknowledge it, move on, and get back to doing work that actually lands. The stage version of "Cats" proved the material had legs. The movie just... didn't.

Read the full story at Variety → https://variety.com/2026/film/news/judi-dench-says-cats-film-was-a-waste-of-goodwill-talent-1236917065/