Andrew Lloyd Webber bought a therapy dog because he was ‘emotionally damaged’ over Cats

Composer is not a fan of the 2019 film adaptation of his work

Andrew Lloyd Webber has said he hated the film adaptation of Cats so much that he bought a therapy dog.

Cats – starring Judi Dench, James Corden and Taylor Swift – was released in 2019. The film bombed at the box office and received overwhelmingly terrible reviews from both fans and critics.

Nearly two years after its release, Lloyd Webber – who composed the original 1980 musical – has slated the movie version of his stage musical.

“Cats was off-the-scale all wrong,” he told Variety. “There wasn’t really any understanding of why the music ticked at all.

“I saw it and I just thought, ‘Oh God, no.’ It was the first time in my 70-odd years on this planet that I went out and bought a dog. So the one good thing to come out of it is my little Havanese puppy.”

The 73-year-old went on to explain that he had brought the dog with him to the US on a flight and therefore had to get the animal registered as a therapy pet.

He said: “I wrote off and said I needed him with me at all times because I’m emotionally damaged and I must have this therapy dog.

“The airline wrote back and said, ‘Can you prove that you really need him?’ And I said, ‘Yes, just see what Hollywood did to my musical Cats. Then the approval came back with a note saying, ‘No doctor’s report required.’”

Cats star Jennifer Hudson, who played Grizabella, recently defended the much-hated film.

The singer-actor, who previously won an Oscar for her role in the 2006 film Dreamgirls, said that she believes “later down the line, people will see it differently”.

This is not the first time that Lloyd Webber has been unimpressed with film adaptations of his work.

The composer revealed that he dislikes Norman Jewison’s 1973 adaptation of Jesus Christ Superstar, and criticised Joel Schumacher’s 2004 adaptation of The Phantom of the Opera.

Speaking about the latter, Lloyd Webber said that Gerard Butler was too young to portray the Phantom.