Those of us at Alley Cat Allies couldn’t agree more with actress Melissa McCarthy as she praised her fabulous feline co-star in the new movie, “Can You Ever Forgive Me?” The film was just screened at the Telluride Film Festival.
McCarthy said Towne, a male cat, played a female cat in the movie “very well.” In fact, she said he was “out-acting” her in a scene at a veterinarian’s office, according to a story on Vulture.com.
“The first time I take him … to the vet, while we are at the counter he sneezed. And I look at him and literally thought, “˜Are you kidding me? Are you pretending to be sick?’ I said to myself, “˜This cat is out-acting me’.”
McCarthy told the crowd at the film festival: “I heard there are actually Academy Awards for pets. I can’t remember what they are called but I call them the Cat Oscars and this cat should win.”
Towne has many feline role models to look up to. Who could forget the cat-stealing scenes from Audrey Hepburn in 1961’s “Breakfast at Tiffany’s.” Especially the ending when the poor baby had been tossed out of a cab and onto a rainy city streetonly to be rescued by the soaking-wet glamorous film icon.
Just four years later, Thomasina the cat headlined the Hayley Mills vehicle “That Darn Cat!” That’s still a favorite among cat lovers.
More recently, cats played key roles in the Harry Potter series, from the stern Mrs. Norris, stalking the hallways of Hogwarts, to the heroic Crookshanks, who pounced on a nefarious rodent.
And then there are the human actors who won accolades for their turns as felines, including Elizabeth Taylor as Maggie the Cat in Tennessee Williams’ “Cat on a Hot Tin Roof” and Halle Berry as Catwoman in “Batman.”
Check out other felines on the big screen at CinemaCats.com.
Perhaps soon, there will even be a film showing how cats benefit from Trap-Neuter-Return, with casting by uniquely gifted cats (which means all of them)! Now that would deserve Best Picture!