Questlove has always stayed busy beyond his spot as beloved drummer for hip-hop group The Roots. Last year saw him win an Oscar for his directorial debut, the excellent documentary Summer of Soul, and now Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is embarking on his biggest project to date: directing Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Aristocats.
Deadline reports that Questlove will direct The Aristocats, based on the 1970 animated movie set in Paris and with jazz music as a key component. So the hiring of Questlove, a true music historian, is sneaky brilliant on their part.
The original film centered on an eccentric Duchess in Paris who leaves the entirety of her estate to her cats. This leads to her greedy butler catnapping them to gain the fortune, only for the cats to get help from a street-smart alley cat and his jazz band.
Questlove will be directing from a script by Will Gluck and Keith Bunin. Gluck is known as the writer/director of Easy A, Annie and both Peter Rabbit films, so he knows how to make a hit out of all-ages films.
The Aristocats was a film that I loved as a kid, but it doesn’t have the popularity of other stuff Disney has remade. So Questlove should feel comfortable really playing around with the story, the casting, and most especially the music.
