Last night, a ton of people were having a Jellicle Ball watching Tom Hooper’s Cats, since it’s just become available to rent and own digitally. Among its fans were a high Seth Rogen, who was asking the important questions, like why do only some of the cats wear pants? Knives Out writer/director Rian Johnson and a slew of viewers also got “Release The Butthole Cut” trending… well, because this is the world we live in now. And if you’ve been following the controversy(?), there’s just been a shocking new development.
Fans called for the Butthole Cut to be released after it was revealed on Twitter that one VFX producer’s entire job was to remove the CGI buttholes that had previously been inserted into “Worst Picture” Razzie winner, Cats. The source claimed to be a friend of this Cats producer. Now, a VFX crew member who asked to remain anonymous has written a clarification to call for the existence of the “Butthole Cut.” In their words:
There were never shots of cats with butt holes. Or at least by design, none that I saw anyway. However, there were a dozen or so shots where the skin and fur sim was groomed or just folded in a way that really REALLY looked like very furry lady genitals and buttholes by accident. The task (as typical with heavy CG shows) fell on 2D to paint out the offending articles where it was brought up and spotted. Daily reviews were constant awkward discussions of people plucking up the courage to point things like this out; ‘does that look like a fanny to you?’
Wow! The making of Cats just keeps getting better and better. The source emailed writer and producer Ben Mekler with this information after his other tweet last night calling for a “tell-all book” about the production of the live-action musical yielded news of this “Butthole Cut.” Apparently there were tons of shots of the actors with fur that greatly suggested not only buttholes, but also female genitals, and it was the job of 2D artists to spot them and paint them out.
I guess Jason Derulo wasn’t far off when he said he was “125 percent” sure his manhood was CGI-ed out of Cats back in December? What I want to know is what the vision of the movie was when buttholes were a part of the visuals? It ended up being a PG movie. It kind of feels like another much raunchier and wilder cut of the musical was censored halfway through, doesn’t it?
As the VFX crew member explains, it was an “accident.” But like, how does one trip over a digital paintbrush and draw in suggestive furry-ness? Some recent special features do shed light on a much different vision for the visuals. The movie’s CGI was also famously altered up until a couple days before the premiere of the film in December.
This should serve as a good of a reminder as any: you haven’t already, it’s time for you to experience Cats. The musical is available to rent and own on digital and you can own a physical copy of April 17.
