Tony Winner Judi Dench Set to Play Old Deuteronomy in Cats Movie

More casting has been announced for the highly anticipated movie-musical version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's Broadway smash Cats. Joining the cast is Oscar and Tony winner Judi Dench, who is set to play Old Deuteronomy, according to Deadline.

Dench earned a Tony Award for her turn in Amy's View in 1999. Her other Broadway credits include Twelfth Night and King Henry V. An Oscar winner for her role Shakespeare in Love, Dench has also been on screen in Mrs. Brown, Chocolat, Iris, Mrs. Henderson Presents, Notes on a Scandal and Philomena, all of which earned her Academy Award nominations. Interestingly, she was the first actress cast as Grizabella in the original London staging of Cats in 1981, but had to depart the production following an injury.

The Cats film will also star the previously announced Jennifer Hudson, James Corden, Ian McKellen, Taylor Swift, Laurie Davidson and Idris Elba. Additional casting is still to come.

Based on T.S. Eliot's Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats, the Tony-winning musical tells the story of the Jellicle cats and each cat's individual quest to be selected as the lucky one who will ascend to "the Heaviside Layer."

As previously announced, the Cats film will be directed by Tom Hooper and choreographed by Wayne McGregor.

The film is slated to be released on December 20, 2019.