In Hollywood, you only have one shot to get a movie just right. Director Tom Hooper took full advantage of that!

The big-screen adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s smash musical Cats held its world premiere at New York’s Lincoln Center last night. The A-list cast includes Taylor Swift, Idris Elba, James Corden. and Jennifer Hudson.

Turns out, it was the first time ANYONE had seen the full film because Tom didn’t complete it until hours before it was unleashed.

“I finished it at 8 a.m. yesterday after 36 hours in a row. I just put the finishing touches on. So, I’m very happy to be here with it fully finished,” Tom told Variety on the red carpet. “The premiere should be the first time people get to see it, and this is genuinely a premiere.”

There was clearly heavy post-production work given that the actors were transformed into felines.

“Let the audience decide, but I think we’ve come a long way since that first trailer,” Tom said, alluding to the Internet hate the trailer received when it was released. Still, the cast remained confident in the final product.

“Tom showed us a lot of tests but to see me as a cat was like, ‘What?!’ Technology is incredible,” said Idris. “We can do anything with our imaginations now, so I was really impressed with what they did.”

The actor added that the actors enrolled in “cat school” to perfect the craft of playing an animal. That included prowling on their knees, nuzzling and smelling each other and rolling around.

“If I’m honest, it was really fascinating,” Idris said. “I’m not a cat lover, but I got to understand cats and how they think and what they’re about. It was quite fascinating to watch and learn.”

We don’t know about y’all, but this is definitely going to be the film of the Christmas season.