Idris Elba is in final negotiations to join the film adaption of Andrew Lloyd Webber’s Cats.

Elba will join a star-studded cast of Taylor Swift, Jennifer Hudson, James Cordern and Sir. Ian McKellen. The film is set to be directed by Tom Hooper (Les Misérables, The Kings Speech).

Cats is the fourth longest-running show in Broadway history. Based on T.S. Eliot’s Old Possum’s Book of Practical Cats. It had its world premiere at the New London Theatre in 1981 — where it ran for 21 record-breaking years. It has won seven Tonys and the Olivier and Evening Standard Theatre award for best musical.

Cats is set to be released on December 20, 2019

Watch: Cats – Memory

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