The cast being lined up for the upcoming ‘Cats’ movie features some big names. Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift, James Corden and Ian McKellen are all set to star in the film.
‘Cats’ is being directed by Tom Hooper, whose credits include ‘The King’s Speech’ and ‘Les Miserables’, and is based on Andrew Lloyd Webber’s long-running musical. Lee Hall (‘Billy Elliott’) is penning the script.
The Working Title and Universal film was previously reported to be starring Anne Hathaway and Rihanna.
Screen Daily broke the latest casting news. The four actors previously produced Hooper’s ‘Les Mis’ in 2012. The musical had also been a Universal project.
The stage version of ‘Cats’, which is one of the longest running shows in Broadway and West End history, follows a tribe of felines called the Jellicles over the course of one night as they decide which of their group will ascend to the ‘Heaviside Layer’ and come back to a new life.
Hudson would best be known for her role in ‘Dreamgirls’, which she won an Oscar for. Aside from his late night talk show, Corden has been turning to acting more and more of late, voicing the titular character of this year’s hit family film ‘Peter Rabbit’, and starring more recently in ‘Ocean’s 8.’ Meanwhile, McKellen recently tried his hand at the musical genre by starring in the live action version of ‘Beauty and the Beast.’
Hooper has been prepping the project for two years and it is set to shoot in the UK this November.