‘Cats’ Fans Petition for Release of Mythic ‘Butthole’ Cut of Film, But Does It Really Exist?
Does the Cats movie have a "butthole" cut?
This week, rumors ran wild and the hashtag #ReleaseTheButtholeCut started to trend on Twitter after someone claimed a special effects person was hired to specifically remove 400 shots of CGI buttholes from the movie’s lead actors. This led many to believe an unedited version of the Broadway musical adaptation existed.
"A VFX producer friend of a friend was hired in November to finish some of the 400 effects shots in @catsmovie," a man named Jack Waz tweeted. "His entire job was to remove CGI buttholes that had been inserted a few months before. Which means that, somewhere out there, there exists a butthole cut of Cats."
This prompted Twitter, including celebrities like Seth Rogen, to demand answers.
Vanity Fair even reached out to a spokesperson at Universal, who revealed that they could not comment on the rumors. "Hopefully that will add to the magic and mythical nature of the cinematic treasure," they added.
So does this Cats "butthole" cut really exist?
It turns out, the rumors may have been exaggerated. Writer and producer Ben Mekler spoke to a visual-effects crew member on the movie who confirmed that "there were never any shots of cats with butt holes."
"None that I saw anyway," the person, who asked to remain anonymous, said. "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?'”
So there you have it! A butthole-filled version of Cats does not exist.