Judi Dench graciously claims there to be "no villains in the making of Cats"

Dench has spoken about the film before, and still hasn’t been able to bring herself to watch the finished (if you can call it that) product, but now she’s magnanimous toward everyone who worked on it. “I understand the critics were rather hostile to the film. I never saw the final cut so I can’t judge,” she writes. “All I’ll say is nobody sets out to give a poor performance or make a bad film. You do your best, offer something up and hope that people will get on board and join the party.” Of course, she has complaints about the experience, writing that she was “ill at ease from the beginning – I just didn’t feel right in the role.” She also shares that “the young dancers were left hanging at the end of each take. They’d stand there exhausted and be completely ignored.” 

That all being said, “There were no villains in the making of Cats,” according to Dench. “And if something isn’t a success, then there are always things you can say you’ve learned.” For example, Dench learned that she “could still lift my leg in the air.” She also played Bananagrams on set with her vocal coach and received 50 everlasting roses spray painted gold from Jason Derulo on the last day of filming, which is certainly something that few people can say. And while she doesn’t mention Hooper in The Guardian‘s except, she basically implicitly acquits him of any wrongdoing: “Sometimes things just don’t work out: the timing’s wrong, the cast don’t gel, the elements don’t coalesce. But people’s intentions are mostly honourable.” Jellicles do the best they can!