Idris Elba on the plot of Cats: 'I guess it's about a cat...'

Idris Elba.
(Image credit: Emma McIntyre/Getty Images)

Idris Elba was never going to make it through the Hobbs & Shaw press tour without answering a few questions about Cats, but there's one he wasn't entirely prepared for: what's it about?

The actor has been making the talk show rounds this week to promote the new Fast & Furious spin-off but has spent a whole lot of time fielding Cats-related queries, including one on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert about what the plot of the musical adaptation actually is.

"Wow, what a way to throw me under the bus there," Elba responded before describing the "classic" and "big" musical by saying, "I guess it's about a cat..."

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Elba paused as the audience immediately laughed at that statement, eventually explaining that it's about "one cat's journey towards what is essentially cat heaven," asking the crowd when he finished, "How am I doing? Does anyone know what the story is?"

When he hasn't been trying to explain what Cats is about to baffled hosts, Elba during this tour has been talking quite a bit about "cat school," a phrase the film's stars have been using constantly to describe how they learned to act like cats during production.

"I had to turn into a cat," Elba said on The View. "There's a cat school. I'm not even kidding you. There's a cat school."

Apparently, Elba learned a lot from this "lady who teaches human beings how to move like cats," saying he "found out some interesting things about cats." The hosts of Strahan and Sara questioned Elba about "cat school," too, with Elba this time busting out his cat impression while telling the hosts, "there is a real cat teacher."

Expect a whole lot more discussion about "cat school" from the stars of Cats over the next five months before the film is released this December in what Elba assured everyone on The View will be a "very special moment."

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Brendan Morrow

Brendan is a staff writer at The Week. A graduate of Hofstra University with a degree in journalism, he also writes about horror films for Bloody Disgusting and has previously contributed to The Cheat Sheet, Heavy, WhatCulture, and more. He lives in New York City surrounded by Star Wars posters.