”Cats” hits the big screen in December 2019.
Rebel Wilson will play Jennyanydots in the upcoming film adaptation of Cats, according to Deadline.
Wilson joins a company that includes Jennifer Hudson (Grizabella), Taylor Swift, James Corden, Ian McKellen (Gus the Theatre Cat), Judi Dench (Old Deuteronomy), Idris Elba (Macavity), Steven McRae (Skimbleshanks), and Francesca Hayward (Victoria).
The film will be produced by Working Title. Tom Hooper, who directed the film version of Alain Boublil and Claude-Michel Schönberg's Les Misérables, is slated to direct, and is penning the screenplay with Billy Elliot book writer and lyricist Lee Hall. As previously announced, the film will be released on Friday, December 20, 2019.
Composed by Andrew Lloyd Webber and based on T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the original Broadway production of Cats opened in 1982 at the Winter Garden Theatre. The production ran for a record-breaking 18 years and 7,485 performances and earned six Tony Awards, including Best Musical, Best Book, and Best Original Score.