Questlove will direct Disney’s live-action/hybrid re-imagining of the Aristocats.
The founding member of The Roots — real name Ahmir Thompson — won last year’s Academy Award for Best Documentary Feature for Summer of Soul.
Aristocats will be the Grammy Award-winning film’s first feature film, and he will also produce and supervise the film’s music, per Delivery time.
The new film will be based on Disney’s 1970 animated film about a Duchess, a Persian cat, and her kittens Marie, Berlioz, and Toulouse who are destined to inherit their owner’s fortune.
A greedy butler steps in and ships the cats off to the country – where they meet a charming cat named Thomas O’Malley.
Persian cats receive an education about life on the streets, courtesy of Thomas O’Malley and his friends as they make their way to the city to reclaim their home before it’s too late.
Questlove’s Two One Five Entertainment alongside Tarek Trotter, Sean G, and Zara Zolman will produce the script from Will Gluck and Keith Bonin.
Questlove’s Summer of Soul, about the 1969 Harlem cultural festival, premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in 2021, where it won the Grand Jury Prize and kick-started its run toward an Academy Award win in 2022.
Last month, The Late Show with star Jimmy Fallon revealed why Will Smith wasn’t included in the Grammy tribute to 50 years of hip-hop.
Smith, 54, was scheduled Take the stage in Los Angeles Crypto.com Arena along with his 90s collaborator Jazzy Jeff, but they were both mysteriously absent on the night.
LL Cool J introduced the clip, tracing the genre’s roots back to a party in The Bronx in August 1973, when a DJ playing beats laid the foundation for hip-hop.
The tribute featured hip-hop artists from multiple generations – from Grandmaster Flash all the way to Lil Uzi Vert, with many fans paying tribute to the tribute on social media.
And while Smith is rebuilding his reputation after slapping Chris Rock at the 2022 Academy Awards, that’s not why he wasn’t part of the hip-hop tribute.
Questlove said diverse: “I’ll give spoiler alert away.” Will Smith was part of the festivities tonight, but they’re starting filming Bad Boys 4 this week.
“There were a lot of first shots he had to make, so we had to lose Will.”
And even though Questlove was at the 2022 Academy Awards — he completely missed Smith slapping Rock — though his award is the one presented by Rock.
“Of course, it happened in a whole other case hurricane with two of my very close friends,” he said on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon shortly after the Oscars. “I didn’t really realize that.”
The Roots drummer said he was practicing Transcendental Meditation at the time his class was announced, and it was during this time that the incident occurred between Smith and Rock.
It’s weird to say, because they tell you in advance, ‘This is your class,’ so at that moment, either you’re full of anxiety or, for me, I’ve been reflecting on the last two years,” he said.
When the commercial break was happening, I was just meditating, so when I opened my eyes, I didn’t realize — why is everyone so quiet? Like, I was literally not present for that entire moment.
He continued, “But in my opinion they’re just doing a sketch or something, and I’m like, ‘Okay, Ahmed, remember to thank your mom, dad,’ so I wasn’t present at all, I was just in empty space.”
Questlove said as he “walked to the stage” he was “kind of putting two and two together and realized that was a real moment” between Smith and Rock before giving his acceptance speech.
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