Scott Kowalchyk/CBSJust two weeks ago, the trailer for Cats nearly broke the internet.
It featured fur-ocious costumes, elaborate makeup, an oddly sexual aura—per the Internet—and nearly every A-lister under the sun, including Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, Idris Elba, Judi Dench and James Corden among others.
But what exactly is this hotly-anticipated movie about? Well, as it turns out, you're not alone in your questioning. Not even Elba is 100 percent certain.
During an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on Monday night, the actor was asked to explain the plot of the flick, based on Andrew Lloyd Webber's Tony award winning Broadway play.
"Oh, wow," he began. "What a way to throw me under the bus there. It's a classic. It's a big musical. Andrew Lloyd Webber. I guess it's about a cat." Perhaps, chimed in host Stephen Colbert, more than one cat? Ah, yes!
"It's one cat's journey towards what is essentially cat heaven," Elba continued. "And that idea is that we all aspire to get toward cat heaven. There's this young cat and she gets taken on this story on how to get to cat heaven or what you should do to get into cat heaven. How am I doing? Does anyone know what this story is?"
While his synopsis may need some work, his impersonation of a four-legged animal is purrr-fect. All thanks to his intense coursework in cat school, which, yes, is a real thing apparently.
Director Tom Hooper "wanted the actors to really embody the feline persona, the vibe," the Brit explained. "So he instructed this lovely lady, her name was Sarah, I think, and she was a cat expert. In fact, not only was she a cat expert but she was also an expert on how humans should play cats."
"She really spoke to us about the anatomy of a cat," he continued. "We had to understand the bones, the structure, how the hips and everything work. So then what you realize is it's all about the shoulders."
And as he shows Colbert, his act is spot on. Watch the full video above to see just how cool of a cat Elba really is.