Does James Corden Regret Cats? Here’s His Honest Answer

James Corden as Bustopher Jones in Cats
(Image credit: (Universal))

If you haven’t heard, Tom Hooper’s Cats was kind of a disaster. Ever since the first nightmarish visuals of big stars such as Idris Elba and Taylor Swift as CGI cat-human hybrids debuted over the summer, the signs were there. Not even the hand of magical mister Mistoffelees could save this one. Since its release against Star Wars: Rise of Skywalker (yikes) over the holidays has come to pass, Cats’ own Bustopher Jones, James Corden is spilling the milk.

On the late night host’s recurring segment called “Spill Your Guts or Fill Your Guts”, he and other famous people are asked difficult questions which they must answer or ingest disgusting foods such as bird saliva, chili pepper smoothies or a bull penis. It was the perfect circumstances to have James Corden to get honest about how he feels about the failed musical.

With cod sperm in front of his face, he was asked how much he regrets making Cats by Justin Bieber. Here was James Corden’s answer:

So, 1 is the least and 10 is the most. Well, here’s the thing, I had the loveliest time making that film. It took me six days and I loved every single second of it. So, I think you’ve got to be careful not to… you’ve got to decide things on your own personal experience, and I had a really great time. So, I don’t regret doing it at all because I decided to do it in the same way I decided to do many things. Some have worked, some haven’t. So, I’m gonna put it at a solid 5… 4.5, 4.5.

There you have it. At least he’s being honest about it. When James Corden was hired for Cats he had the opportunity to work alongside an incredible cast and bust out his song-and-dance skills. Why not do it? He had no idea how ridiculous Bustopher Jones would look on the big screen once it was finished. How else could he have presented at the Oscars in a catsuit?

The end product is often what’s most important to us as moviegoers, but to performers such as James Corden it’s about what he is willing to give his time to and what he thinks will be a valuable experience personally. It’s not tough to imagine Cats could have been a positive one for him and he only had to give six days to the project. But, it has to hurt a little that he put some work into something that has been widely booed.

James Corden revealed shortly after the release of Cats that he hadn’t even bothered to see it after hearing how “terrible” it was. Other Cats actors have come out to joke about being a part of the film, such as Rebel Wilson at the BAFTAs. You can check out Corden and Justin Bieber answer more tough questions during The Late Late Show with James Corden segment below:

Cats recently ended its domestic run after just eight weeks in theaters with $27.1 million in box office earnings. The movie musical has made a total of $73 million globally against a production budget of $95 million. However, the popularity for the movie to be seen among audiences where they can make fun of its glorious nonsense has certainly started to signal its coming cult classic status.

Sarah El-Mahmoud
Staff Writer

Sarah El-Mahmoud has been with CinemaBlend since 2018 after graduating from Cal State Fullerton with a degree in Journalism. In college, she was the Managing Editor of the award-winning college paper, The Daily Titan, where she specialized in writing/editing long-form features, profiles and arts & entertainment coverage, including her first run-in with movie reporting, with a phone interview with Guillermo del Toro for Best Picture winner, The Shape of Water. Now she's into covering YA television and movies, and plenty of horror. Word webslinger. All her writing should be read in Sarah Connor’s Terminator 2 voice over.