The 1970 animated musical-comedy The Aristocats is the latest Disney toon classic to enter the live-action/hybrid adaptation pipeline. According to Deadline, The Roots founding member Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is on board to direct the pic, bringing his six-time Grammy-winning musical talent and experience directing the 2022 Oscar-winning documentary Summer of Soul.
The Walt Disney Studios remake is written by Will Gluck (writer/director of the Peter Rabbit movies) and Keith Bunin (Pixar’s Onward). Thompson will also executive produce the pic, as will Tarik Trotter, Shawn Gee and Zarah Zohlman for Two One Five Entertainment.
The original 2D film, the final Disney animated film released before the death of studio co-founder Roy O. Disney, was directed by Woolie Reitherman based on a story by Tom McGowan and Tom Rowe conceived as a live-action episode of Walt Disney’s Wonderful World of Color.
Set in the early 20th century, The Aristocats centers on a pampered Parisian cat (voiced by Eva Gabor) and her three kittens who are abandoned in the countryside by their owner’s covetous butler when he learns the cats will inherit her fortune. They are befriended by a streetwise feral cat (Phil Harris), who introduces them to a group of jazz-playing strays in one memorable sequence, and aided by other animals in returning home and foiling their human foe.
The voice cast also featured Scatman Crothers, Sterling Holloway, ventriloquist Paul Winchell, Vito Scotti, Thurl Ravenscroft (voice of Tony the Tiger), Nancy Kulp, Pat Buttram, George Lindsey, Hermione Baddeley and prolific character actor Charles Lane.
Thompson is represented by WME and manager Shawn Gee.
[Source: Deadline]
