Questlove Slated to Direct Remake of Disney’s The Aristocats

Disney is going hip-hop!

According to Deadline, The Roots drummer, Ahmir “Questlove” Thompson is slated to direct his first feature film when he takes the helm for the remake of the 1970 Disney movie The Aristocats.

The news comes more than a year after Questlove took home an Oscar for Best Documentary last year.

Sources have informed Deadline that the project will be a live-action/hybrid reimaging of The Aristocats for Walt Disney Studios. Along with the title of director, Thompson will also take on the role of the executive producer while he will be overseeing the music for the film. The movie script was written by Will Gluck and Keith Bunin. Tarik “Black Thought” Trotter, Shawn Gee, and Zarah Zohlman will exec produce on behalf of Two One Five Entertainment.

A statement was given to Pitchfork by Questlove regarding the upcoming project:

“During those first months of the pandemic back in 2020, I allowed my inner 9-year-old to have a voice he wouldn’ta had back in 1980. I made space for myself every day to enjoy an hour or two of fun. (Eventually, it turned into more work: books, nightly DJ sets, films. But it started as fun.) What grew out of that, in part, was nightly viewings of old Disney classics from my childhood. The Aristocats was one of them. Having been involved in Soul that year, I was able to see so-called kids’ art with new eyes, was able to connect with a certain feeling. I don’t think I would have been fully able to find inspiration in those movies if I wasn’t forced by circumstance to sit silent. I needed that pause. (Also, full confession, The Aristocats was how my mom made jazz seem interesting to me back then.) There’s nothing more rewarding than continuing down that same creative path, taking a part of my past and making it part of my future.”

This news comes after the announcement of Questlove’s latest business venture.

The musician has launched AUWA Books, which will publish fiction and nonfiction on various topics. He has appointed himself as the imprint’s publisher and editor-in-chief. The newly minted lovechild will release its first work, a memoir by Sly Stone entitled Thank You (Falettinme Be Mice Elf Agin), on Oct. 17, 2023.

Questlove Slated to Direct Remake of Disney’s The Aristocats