FIVE cats to make a Hollywood hit — and it’s not even a mewsical

DOGS have masters while cats have servants, as the saying goes.

And so it proved for Hollywood directors Joel and Ethan Coen, who had to recruit three cats to play one fairly small part in their new film Inside Llewyn Davis. The ginger Tom, named Ulysses, has become the unlikely star of the film, which also features British actress Carey Mulligan and pop singer-turned-actor Justin Timberlake.

What fans don’t know is that five moggies were initially signed up for the role, though two were dismissed for incompetence.

That left Tigger, a female, as the cat that Llewyn (played by Oscar Isaac, pictured) carries around in his arms.

Jerry, a male tom, was the ‘action’ cat who performed stunts for rewards such as chicken. Finally, Daryl was the ‘laid-back dude who could be put in hairier situations’ such as crowd scenes, according to Hollywood pet trainer Dawn Barkan. But even Daryl couldn’t cope with some scenes in a packed New York subway. On one particularly frantic day of filming, he got so agitated that he scratched lead actor Isaac in the face. Despite these demands, Hollywood cats don’t get the recompense they deserve. Tigger, Jerry and Daryl go unmentioned in the movie’s final credits and film felines are nearly always paid less than their canine counterparts. While a cat may earn between £100 and £200 for each day on set, dogs tend to get nearly twice as much.