Dame Judi Dench was really, really excited to take on the role of Old Deuteronomy in the film adaptation of Cats.

See, she was supposed to be in it when it initially launched on stage, but an injury forced her to bow out and she's gone her whole career regretting the role that got away.

So when the chance to join the film cast came up, she jumped at it. Dame Judi was cast as Old Deuteronomy, the leader and elder cat of the tribe.

Up until her, the role has been played by a man. It is written as a male cat in the musical's books and materials.

Not a problem for Dame Judi, though. In a recent press junket with Out magazine she explained that, as far as she was concerned, her version of Old Deuteronomy is trans.

"I kind of call it 'trans Deuteronomy,' is the part for me, you know."

It's definitely an unexpected take on the role, as most people had no problems imagining the leader of a walking, talking, dancing clan of cats could be a cis female like Judi. There's nothing in the role that specifically requires Deuteronomy to be male.

Still, it's just another strange turn in the story of this widely-panned adaptation.

It's been a box office disaster with countless reviews about how strange, impossible to follow and overall bonkers it is. It's caused people to obsess over Jason Derulo's package.

The cgi has people creeped out. It's been such a dumpster fire that Universal Studios is re-releasing it with updated graphics to address complaints.


Considering everything that's already happened, "Trans Deuteronomy" is hardly surprising people.

But that doesn't mean they're happy about it.

So let's give it to you long-story-short.

Pretty much this happened.

World: "Hey so this movie is gloriously terrible for reasons we will now list."

Judi: "Well my character is trans. Please talk about that and not all that other stuff."

Trans community: "Thanks, we hate it."

Given the film's track record, we doubt this is the last weird thing we'll hear about it.

Can't wait.


Image by Adabara Ibrahim from Pixabay


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