‘Cats’ Actress Says Her Character is a ‘Transgender Cat’ – You Gotta See The Video
2019 can’t end soon enough.
In an interview with LGBTQ publication “Out Magazine,” actress Dame Judi Dench said her furry character of Old Deuteronomy is actually a transgender feline. There’s even video of her comments…and it’s strange.
Dench mentioned in the interview that the role of Deuteronomy has always been portrayed by a male. She said she imagined the character as trans, so she could play it.
Deuteronomy is a wise, older cat who judges other cats in the “Jellicle Ball,” with one cat chosen to be reborn into a new life in the “Heaviside Layer.”
The Wrap details Dench’s comments in the article.
When the interviewer, who is transgender, pointed out that her character is traditionally played by a man on stage, Dench noted that the male actor Brian Blessed played the role in the 1981 production.
“[It was] nerve wracking, because all I can hear is Brian Blessed all the time in the production that I wasn’t able to be in,” Dench said. “Totally unexpected, it was. I kind of call it ‘trans Deuteronomy,’ is the part for me. But it was lovely to be led about and be an aged, old cat.”
The transgender interviewer who spoke with Dench tweeted out video of the exchange. It’s…awkward.
Not even feminist writer Katelyn Burns had time for the nonsense.
Dench was actually cast in the 1981 London production of the musical. An Achilles tendon injury caused her to drop out.
Based on the popular but polarizing Broadway play, Cats stars Francesca Hayward, James Corden, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Rebel Wilson, and Ian McKellen, in addition to Dench.
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