In the eternal battle between cat and dog, the latter always seems to have had a better publicist. From Rin-Tin-Tin to Lassie to Uggie in The Artist, dogs have Hollywood at their paws thanks to their trainability and eagerness to please. But with the release of Keanu, centred around an insanely adorable performance by seven tabby kittens, cat actors are poised to take their place in the spotlight.

Keanu, a knockabout kidnapping comedy from US sketch duo Keegan-Michael Key & Jordan Peele, tells the story of two cousins, Rell (Peele) and Clarence (Key), who face down assassins and drug-dealers to recover Rell’s stunningly cute kitten Keanu.

As the titular moggie, seven rescue cats were recruited from animal shelters around Los Angeles and trained for the role. These cat artists had to learn to wear a gold chain and "do-rag" to blend in with their gangster setting, to run or sit on command and to jump over dead bodies or dodge "gunfire" (actually squibs).