Have yourself a Grumpy Cat Christmas

MANILA, Philippines - The worldwide web is for cats — literally. The Internet is up to its whiskers in feline cuteness. You see them balled up, cozying up next to dogs, pawing at balls of yarn, and tugging at our heartstrings.

As countless cats get their 15 minutes of youtube fame, one mega-cutie rises above them all. Tardar Sauce, aka Grumpy Cat, has been a sensation and super meme owing to her unique look and perceived, uhm, grumpiness — actually due to an underbite and a case of feline dwarfism. Tardar’s renown began with a photo posted on Reddit on Sept. 22, 2012.

Now that fetching feline face, trademarked in January 2013, has appeared in commercials, the cover of Friskies, Time magazine, and even the American Idol, MTV Movie Awards, Anderson Live and Good Morning America. Grumpy Cat has even penned a tome, A Grumpy Book — available in 14 languages — and followed it up with The Grumpy Guide to Life: Observations by Grumpy Cat. It sure pays to be a sourpuss.

For an encore, what’s a cat to do? Why, make your own movie, of course!

Grumpy Cat stars in her own Lifetime Original Movie that follows her “sour outlook on the holidays.” The live-action flick, Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever, begins at a shopping mall where we find Grumpy Cat in a pet store along with other more eager animals. When unpopular 12-year-old Chrystal (played by Megan Charpentier) walks in, she is startled to hear Grumpy Cat’s thoughts (voiced by Aubrey Plaza) and the two bond as the human tries to navigate through the cat’s sarcasm and difficult personality.

Things heat up when Grumpy Cat and Chrystal witness the kidnapping of an expensive exotic dog in the premises. What adventures, choices, and dour thoughts will our modern-day feline Scrooge have? Well, it’s up to you to tune in.

The Philippine STAR recently had chance to speak with Grumpy Cat’s on-screen cohort Megan, who was relaxing in her Vancouver home with her family. She confesses to being an animal lover, and revealed they have two golden retrievers who she “absolutely adores.” She had always wanted to get a cat, but her mom is allergic to cat dander.

Charpentier, just 13, already has starred alongside Jessica Chastain and Nikolaj Coster-Waldau in the Guillermo del Toro-megged horror film Mama, and the Disney film The Games Maker with Joseph Fiennes, Tom Cavanagh and Ed Asner.

“It’s been a lot of fun,” she said. “When I think about what I want to do (next), it’s to get work with a couple of my favorite actors, or possibly play one of their daughters, or their friend, or something like that.”

At the Charpentier household, it’s a staple to watching Christmas movies during the season. “Definitely a Christmas movie we watch a lot is the Polar Express,” Megan said in response to a STAR question. “And also, How The Grinch Stole Christmas, Elf, and It’s a Wonderful Life.”

When asked to name her idols, Charpienter revealed excitedly: “A couple of my favorite actors are Tom Hanks, Jake Gyllenhaal… I also love Matt Damon. They’re all such an inspiration. I would have loved to work with Robin Williams… I was so sad; he was such an inspiration to me. Meryl Streep, I really look up to her as an actor and as a person because she just seems so kind, and she really knows what she’s doing. Another one of my favorite actresses would have to be Jessica Chastain. I had the pleasure of working with her, and she’s so amazing. She’s so sweet to me. She’s everything I pictured her to be.”

As for directors, Megan listed Steven Spielberg, James Cameron and Paul Greengrass (of Bourne fame).

Megan admitted it was easy for her to relate to Chrystal. “We are similar in many ways,” she explained. “We both are animal lovers, as you can see in the film. Another way we’re similar is that we’ve had trouble making friends at one point. We both struggle making friends, but eventually, we did. I don’t think we have very many differences.”

The Megan gushed about meeting her feline co-star for the first time. “At one point, when I first met Tabby (Tabatha Bundesen, Tardar Sauce’s human), I was like ‘Oh my God, your cat is so cute! Can I keep her?’ I think at some point, I was like ‘I have to take that cat home with me.’”

But Megan said she realized that no one should ever take the cat away from Tabby. “Tabby would be sad, and the cat would be sad, and that would make me sad. So that does not work out,” she declared.

As for the notion that Grumpy Cat is, indeed, grumpy. “She’s very friendly! She once dug into my clothing when she was scared, but she never once scratched me.”

As of press time, we’re not sure if the cat threatened the actress into saying that.

Meow, humbug!

Grumpy Cat’s Worst Christmas Ever airs on Lifetime tonight starting at 7:30.