How does a cat follow up saving the life of the person he adopts? For Bob, the former street cat, he followed up by becoming a movie star.
In 2012, A Street Cat Named Bob was published. The book, written by James Bowen, is the true story of how Bob helped James turn his life around after they met in 2007. Since the book was published, it’s become a best seller in both England and America, as well as being printed in over 30 different countries. It’s spawned a children’s picture book about their experiences from Bob’s perspective, as well as two other memoirs that dig deeper into James and Bob’s life together. With that kind of success, it was almost inevitable that the story would become a movie. What wasn’t inevitable was that Bob would end up playing himself in that movie.
According to the BBC News, Bob wasn’t originally intended to be in the film. There were several other cats who were supposed to be in the movie, but Bob outperformed them all. On The One Show, Bob showed off his charm and high fives while James and some of Bob’s human costars chatted with the hosts. James revealed that he had been attending a day of filming when Bob helped out by getting on the shoulders of the actor playing James and impressing the director.