A year after winning the Academy Award for best documentary feature, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson has lined up a directorial gig: the live-action adaptation of Disney’s “The Aristocats.”
The new remake of the 1970 animated movie will be “a live-action/hybrid reimaging,” according to Deadline.
With Monday’s announcement, Questlove wrote on Instagram: “I basically have 2 life goals: 1. Don’t dismiss my dreams & 2. Get out of my own way.
Questlove, also known as the co-founder of The Roots, will also serve as the movie’s executive producer and oversee the music. The Philadelphia native co-executive produced the star-studded “The Hamilton Mixtape” in 2016.
Featuring several original songs written by “Mary Poppins” songwriters Robert and Richard Sherman, including the title song and “Scales and Arpeggios,” the original “Aristocats” also featured “Ev’rybody Wants to Be a Cat,” performed by Phil Harris, Robie Lester and Scatman Crothers.
The Wolfgang Reitherman-directed film follows the story of French felines kidnapped by their owner’s butler to prevent them from inheriting their fortune. Banished to the countryside, the cats befriend a tomcat in an effort to return home before it’s too late.
Questlove recently co-produced Margaret Brown’s Sundance-winning Clotilda documentary “Descendant,” alongside former President Barack Obama and first lady Michelle Obama’s Higher Ground production company.
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