Idris Elba is trading in Heimdall’s sword for feline claws, joining the cast of Tom Hooper’s adaptation of Cats. Not the casting I ever would’ve expected, but sure, why the Hell not? Elba can do no wrong, right? Unless you saw Ghost Rider: Spirit of Vengeance, that is.
Anyway, Elba joins Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, and Ian McKellen in the screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webbber’s classic musical about a group of alley cats who meet to perform the Jellicle Ball, a ritual that will help the Jellicle leader decide which cat ascends to the Heaviside Layer and come back to a new life. Elba will play antagonist Macavity, a master criminal who leads a band of mischievous cats in the kidnapping of Old Deuteronomy.
The original Broadway musical won seven Tony Awards and held the record as the longest-running show. Hooper has been trying to make this movie for years, but it took his success on Les Miserables, and a helping hand from exec-producer Steven Spielberg, that finally made it happen. Cats will hit theaters on December 20th 2019. [Deadline]
