It's no secret that in recent years Disney has been digging deep into its library of pre-2000 animated movies and selected a number of them to be adapted for live action, such as Cinderella and Beauty and the Beast. Most of these are being released traditionally in theaters, but the upcoming Disney streaming service is getting in on the action as well. It was announced earlier this year that the platform will be home to a live action remake of 1955's Lady and the Tramp, and now it's being reported that Extras' Ashley Jensen and The Leftovers' Justin Theroux are the first actors boarding the project.
First, Deadline dropped the news that Ashley Jensen, whose credits also include Catastrophe and Sherlock Gnomes, will voice a Scottish terrier named Jackie, who is a gender-swapped version of Jock from the original Lady and the Tramp. Jackie is described as a "loyal supporter" to Lady. Then Collider reported that Justin Theroux, who made a brief appearance in Star Wars: The Last Jedi and will be seen next month in The Spy Who Dumped Me, is in final negotiations to voice the eponymous Tramp. The search is still underway to find the actress to voice Lady, but casting so far is off to a solid start.
The original Lady and the Tramp movie followed Lady, a female American cocker spaniel who lived with an upper-class family, and Tramp, a male stray mongrel, meeting and falling in love. That basic premise is obviously being kept intact for the live action/CGI remake, but otherwise no specific plot details have been revealed yet, including if it will be set in the early 1900s or be moved to the present day, and more importantly, whether or not we'll see a recreation of the famous spaghetti kiss scene. Nevertheless, Lady and the Tramp is one of Disney's classic movies, and while it might not have necessarily been a financial hit had it been thrown into theaters, including it as on the Disney streaming service ideally will be a good way to entice people into signing up. With two actors on board, we can presumably look forward to more actors being announced for the new Lady and the Tramp soon, whether they're voicing one of the animals or playing one of the humans.
The Lady and the Tramp remake doesn't have a release date yet, but production could begin later this year, and the Disney streaming service itself is expected to launch in late 2019. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for continuing coverage, and if you're curious about what's arriving in theaters later this year, check out our 2018 release schedule. You're also welcome to look through our handy guide detailing what other projects are in the works for the Disney streaming service.
