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Cats Production Begins as Full Cast is Revealed

December 13, 2018
By The Credits

The adaptation of one of Broadway’s most iconic shows, Cats, is officially becoming a movie. The Oscar-winning director of The King’s Speech, Tom Hooper, is helming the film, with a stellar cast providing him ample star power. It’s Hooper’s first film since 2015’s The Danish Girl.

The adaptation of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s show, which is the 4th longest-running in Broadway history, is intriguing for many reasons. The cast includes Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift, for starters, to say nothing of Idris Elba and Sir Ian McKellen. Cats focuses on—wait for it—a group of cats called the Jellicles, with the story taking place over the course of one special night in which they anoint one of their own to ascend to the “Heaviside Layer” and come back to a new life. Hooper is credited as a co-writer on the script, alongside War Horse and Billy Elliot scribe Lee Hall.  Here’s Universal’s tweet:

Vogue‘s consistently hilarious R. Eric Thomas Tweeted his response to the news with a question lots of folks likely have:

The answer to Thomas’s question is that Hooper will be utilizing new technology to transform his cast into their feline characters. Perhaps the technology will be similar to the motion-capture that Andy Serkis has spearheaded for years and recently nearly perfected in his astonishingly beautiful Mowgli for Netflix. Yet that wouldn’t technically qualify as “new,” so we wonder whether Hooper and his team have something else entirely up their sleeves.

Cats is slated for a December 20, 2019 release.

Here’s the full cast list:

James Corden as Bustopher Jones

Dame Judi Dench as Old Deuteronomy

Jason Derulo as Rum Tum Tugger

Idris Elba as Macavity

Jennifer Hudson as Grizabella

Sir Ian McKellen as Gus

Taylor Swift as Bombalurina

Rebel Wilson as Jennyanydots

Francesca Hayward as Victoria

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The Credits

The Credits is an online magazine that tells the story behind the story to celebrate our large and diverse creative community. Focusing on profiles of below-the-line filmmakers, The Credits celebrates the often uncelebrated individuals who are indispensable to the films and TV shows we love.