Cape Town - Universal Pictures announced – on Friday - that chart-topper Taylor Swift and legendary composer Andrew Lloyd Webber have collaborated on a new, original song written for the film version of Cats which is based on Lloyd Webber's record-shattering stage musical.
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The song, Beautiful Ghosts, will feature in both the film and in the end credits. Cats, in theatres 20 December, is directed by Oscar-winning filmmaker Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The King's Speech), and stars Taylor alongside, James Corden, Judi Dench, Jason Derulo, Idris Elba, Jennifer Hudson, Ian McKellen, Rebel Wilson and Royal Ballet principal dancer Francesca Hayward.
In the film, the song is performed by Francesca who stars in the role of Victoria. The version of the song performed by Taylor, who plays Bombalurina in the film, will play over the end titles.One of the longest-running shows in West End and Broadway history, the stage musical Cats includes some of Lloyd Webber's most indelible songs, including Memory.
Lloyd Webber saw an opportunity to create a new signature song for Victoria, whose character has been expanded for the film. "When I first read the screenplay, the first thing I said was, 'We have to have a song for Victoria,'" Lloyd Webber says."Beautiful Ghosts," he says, is now, "an incredibly important and central part of the whole film."
For director Tom Hooper, the song exceeded even his high expectations. "What I couldn't believe was the extraordinary beauty of these lyrics that Taylor had written," Hooper says.