'Cats': Taylor Swift on the Surprising Way Her Own Cats Influenced the Film! (Exclusive)

As a lifelong cat lover, you'd think Taylor Swift's own feline friends might have helped her get into character in her new film, Cats. However, the Lover songstress says her adorable pets may have played a part in bringing a different character to life.

ET's Rachel Smith spoke with Swift at the world premiere of Cats outside Alice Tully Hall at Lincoln Center in New York City on Monday -- where she stunned in a floral, ruby Oscar de la Renta satin gown -- and the actress admitted that her trio of cats "were actually no help for me."

"The cat they're most like in the movie is a cat called Jennyanydots, which Rebel Wilson plays," Swift explained.

As it turns out, when Swift went to the so-called "cats school" -- where they learned how to move, behave and generally become human-like cats for the film -- she introduced her own cats to the instructor, and inspiration struck.

"She was like, 'Can I send these to Rebel? They're the perfect inspiration for her cat!'" Swift recalled. "So, my cats didn't inspire me -- but I like to think that, when they were sent to Rebel, they did inspire her for her character development."

According to Wilson -- who also stopped to talk with ET at the star-studded premiere -- the cat teacher in question definitely had a clear idea of what kind of cat Wilson (and her character) really were.

"Apparently our cat teacher thought I was the naughtiest cat?" Wilson told ET. "I don't know how I got labeled the naughtiest cat. I mean, I am a little cheeky. But I had to bring some comedy into this film."

Meanwhile, while Wilson's Jennyanydots plays up the laughs, Swift's Bombalurina isn't afraid of showing off her more provocative, sultry side.

However, Swift doesn't just perform in the exciting new musical -- a big screen adaptation of the long-running Broadway spectacle -- but she also wrote and recorded an original song alongside the musical's legendary creator, Andrew Lloyd Webber.

"That alone was just a life-changing dream-come-true moment for me," Swift said of penning the tune "Beautiful Ghosts," which is sung by Francesca Hayward -- playing the dancing cat Victoria -- while Swift's version will play over the film's closing credits.

"It's one of those songs that I feel like the movie doesn't make sense without that song. It's not like it was just a song that was stuck into the film," Swift explained. "This is a character that is a lead character in the film, and in the original Broadway production, she doesn't have a song."

"In the production she's just a ballerina, we don't ever hear from her," Swift continued. "So it was amazing to get to be the lyricist who figured out what she was going to say when she spoke."

The tune also got some love from the Hollywood Foreign Press Association, which nominated "Beautiful Ghosts" for Best Original Song at the 2020 Golden Globes.

"It's very exciting and we're so honored by that," Swift shared. "It's so cool that the HFPA decided to honor us in this way."

Cats leaps into theaters Dec. 20.

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