Disney's The Aristocats live-action remake finally gets a director

Virgin Radio

3 Apr 2023, 06:13

The man behind the camera? Questlove from The Roots.

Ahmir 'Questlove' Thompson, the Oscar-winning director of Summer of Soul, has been selected to direct Disney's live-action remake of The Aristocats.

The original animated musical from Walt Disney Productions is 53 years old. The 20th Disney animated feature film was the final Disney animated film to be involved with Walt Disney Productions's co-founder Roy O. Disney before his death on December 20th, 1971.

Questlove, a member of the hip-hop band The Roots since 1987 and one of the producers of the cast album of the Broadway musical Hamilton, will also oversee the music in the new film.

The Aristocats follows a Parisian feline family who inherit a fortune from their owner, Madame Adelaide Bonfamille, only to be forced out into the countryside by a jealous butler.

They enlist the help of a wise tomcat to help them return home before it's too late. Will Gluck (Easy A, Peter Rabbit) and Keith Bunin (Horns) are writing the script.

In other live adaptation news, Disney recently cast child actress Maia Kealoha in the lead role of Lilo Pelekai in their live-action remake of Lilo & Stitch.

Chris Sanders, the co-director of the original 2002 animated movie, expressed frustration with the praise given to Frozen for portraying sisterhood when Lilo & Stitch had done so years prior.

"To be clear, I think Frozen's great," he told The New York Times. "But it was a little bit frustrating for me because people were like, 'Finally, a non-romantic relationship with these two girls,' and I thought, 'We did that! That has absolutely been done before'."