Grumpy Cat Christmas Movie MStars News EXCLUSIVE Interview Part 2: We Speak With Her Manager Ben Lashes About New Lifetime Movie, Her Voice By Aubrey Plaza! Was Angelina Jolie Supposed To Play Her?

By Larry Abuliak (larry.abuliak@mstarsnews.com) | Nov 29, 2014 04:11 PM EST

Get the Most Popular Mstars News

Grumpy Cat fans are beside themselves with anticipation for the premiere of her new Lifetime movie, Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever. Fans even line up down the block to take pictures with perpetually unhappy internet celebrity.

MStars News spoke exclusively to the superstar cat's manager Ben Lashes to get all the dirt on the tonight's historic film. In part two of our exclusive (read part one here), we talk about went on behind-the-scenes of making the movie including all about Grumpy's voice played by Parks and Recreation star Aubrey Plaza. Look out for some exclusive breaking news about a sequel as well!

MStars News: Can you tell us about the new Grumpy Cat movie, Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever?

Ben: It's the first time an Internet meme has ever made it to a full-length movie. It's historic. It stars Grumpy Cat as herself. It's a play on classic Christmas movies and cheesy holiday specials and it puts a "grumpy" twist on the whole thing. It's really quirky and funny and weird and insane and awesome and all those things wrapped into one. It might be the new Christmas classic that everyone watches with their family.

MStars News: How did the movie come about? Were you guys approached?

Ben: The idea for a movie had been going around for a while. I was first approached by Arturo Interian at Lifetime, who's the executive producer on the movie, and he wrote me an email when I was at South by Southwest (SXSW), and he said he was interested in talking about doing a Grumpy Cat Christmas movie ... So the day I got back, I went straight to a meeting and had coffee with Arturo and told him how passionate I was about a Grumpy Cat movie. All the ideas I had that we needed to make happen and how important this movie was for this generation of fans. And telling him how important it was that we got it right, that we make it cool. I came to the table with an outline I thought would make for the best Grumpy Cat Christmas movie. Then we got the amazing Tim Hill, who came from SpongeBob Squarepants and directed Muppets in Space and Garfield and all the Chipmunks.

MStars News: When you think of Grumpy Cat's voice, do you think of Aubrey Plaza, who does the voice in the movie, or do you think of like an Angelina Jolie doing the voice?

Ben: Well I mean I'm a little biased because I was part of this movie since the beginning and I always thought Aubrey Plaza would do a really great job and capture the grumpy spirit really well, which I think that she did. She really took the part seriously and did more voiceover days and wrote extra jokes and adlibbed so many things. She really put everything into it. I don't know that Angelina Jolie would have put that much thought into Grumpy Cat to tell you the truth, but for sure this would be a different movie with a different voice, not just in sound but also in actual parts of the movie. After Aubrey did her voiceovers we had to do another day with Grumpy and shoot some extra things that we hadn't planned on because Aubrey made it up on the spot or wrote jokes up and we decided to keep a lot of it because it was so funny. It's been really cool and now I think, especially after watching the movie, it really works so well that afterwards, it makes total sense. I totally believe it.

MStars News: Were there other actresses that auditioned for the part of Grumpy Cat's voice?

Ben: We didn't do any auditions. There was lots of discussion of who would be the perfect Grumpy Cat. Day one, when I went to Arturo, the only name I brought up was Aubrey Plaza. And then she really became the voice! It was pretty crazy because that was the very first day; this is what I think it should be. Arturo didn't know Grumpy was a girl at first and he was like, "I thought she was a boy..." But once you get to know Grumpy Cat, it would be kind of impossible to put a male voice on her. She's like the "Marilyn Monroe of cats." You've got to do her justice.

MStars News: Did Grumpy Cat have any diva demands on the movie set? Did she have the biggest trailer?

Ben: She did have actually, honest to God, the biggest trailer onset. She had one of those trailers with a bedroom and a bed that only she was allowed to sleep in. She had a kitchen and a television and a dining area, a couch and recliners and yeah, she did have quite the set-up with the trailer. She's very pampered. She gets whatever keeps her the right amount of grumpy, so she got all of her favorite cat food and treats. She got cat toys everyday, she got to choose anything out of the mall that we shot the movie in ... She's not only the most famous cat in the world, but she's the most spoiled cat in the world. She's very well taken care of. And when you watch the movie it goes by in a flash, in an hour and a half, but the movie took four weeks to shoot up in Vancouver. So Grumpy's days were usually pretty light because there's so much other things going on in the movie ... She had a pretty easy schedule. She got to hang out in the trailer a lot, then she'd get called to set for a little to film, 15 minutes, half an hour, do her scene, then she'd be rushed back to nap.

MStars News: Are there any plans for a sequel?

Ben: Well nothing official has been announced, but there's a lot of talk about it and we've, the whole time, been talking about what the sequel ideas would be and where Grumpy goes next. So stay tuned and when you watch the movie, Grumpy makes her own jokes about a sequel. She thinks it's going to be terrible!

MStars News: What's next for Grumpy?

Ben: Well aside from the impending sequel announcement that might be coming ... you never know where she will show up next, but she definitely likes to keep people on their toes.

MStars News: Do you want to break some news with us?

Ben: I don't have any announcements or anything ready to go. Nothing is ready to break currently, especially until after we get through the movie. The movie is something we've been working on for a good year and a half straight now from concept to the point where it's appearing on television. Just from the mere idea, of "wouldn't it be great to do a Grumpy Cat movie?" or a Christmas special, because how bad is a Christmas special? We're very excited this is happening. It's the first big step for cats everywhere.

MStars News: Are there any ideas for sequels? Anything written yet?

Ben: Definitely lots of ideas. The movie definitely leaves itself open. It could be a Star Wars kind of thing where there's three to seven to nine of them.

MStars News: So you think Grumpy will be as big as Star Wars?

Ben: Well, who knows? I don't think there's a Jar Jar in this movie.

---

Stay tuned for part three of our exclusive with Grumpy Cat's manager, where we find out what, if anything, makes the well-known feline not grumpy and if she's ever had a diva moment like Naomi Campbell!

Don't forget to catch Grumpy Cat's Worst Christmas Ever tonight (November 29) on Lifetime at 8/7c.

© 2024 Mstars News, All rights reserved. Do not reproduce without permission.

Get the Most Popular Mstars News

Related Articles

SHARE YOUR THOUGHTS

Follow Us Everywhere

Sign Up for Our Newsletter

Music Times Network is always looking for well-versed, enthusiastic contributors and interns.
Submit your application today!

DON'T MISS

LATEST STORIES

MUSIC VIDEOS

Real Time Analytics