Like a lot of Disney's classic animated movies, Lady and the Tramp is being adapted for live action. Hover, unlike recent releases like The Jungle Book and Beauty and the Beast, this new version of Lady and the Tramp will not be screened in theaters. Instead it will be available on the upcoming Disney streaming service, and production is commencing soon. Just like the original animated movie, the new Lady and the Tramp will involve humans interacting with the animal cast, and word has come in that Kong: Skull Island actor Thomas Mann has been added as Jim Dear, Lady's owner.
With this Variety report, Thomas Mann becomes the second actor to join Lady and the Tramp as a human character, with Kiersey Clemons having already been brought on to play Darling, Jim Dear's wife. In the original Lady and the Tramp, Jim Dear gave Lady to Darling as a present, but once the couple had their son, they weren't as attentive toward the dog, though that changed by the end of the movie. Along with playing Reg Slivko in Kong: Skull Island, Mann's credits include Hansel & Gretel: Witch Hunters, The Stanford Prison Experiment, Amityville: The Awakening, Our House and the Fargo TV series.
Like the previous Disney remakes/re-imaginings, Lady and the Tramp is expected to follow the basic premise of its animated predecessor. However, it remains to be seen if the life action version will follow the animated movie really closely or take a number of creative liberties. For instance, the original Lady and the Tramp was set in the early 1900s, but it remains to be seen if the life action version will stay in that time period or be a contemporary story. (Though with names like Jim Dear and Darling, I suspect we'll still be hanging out at the start of the 20th century). In Jim Dear's case, I'm curious if he'll be depicted differently or his and his wife's roles will essentially be the same as they were in the 1955 movie.
Along with Thomas Mann and Kiersey Clemons, Lady and the Tramp's cast includes Justin Theroux as Tramp, Tessa Thompson as Lady, Ashley Jensen as Jackie (a gender-swapped version of Jock) and Benedict Wong as Bull. The LEGO Ninjago Movie's Charlie Bean is set to direct, and Support the Girls' Andrew Bujalski penned the script.
The new Lady and the Tramp movie doesn't have an assigned release date yet, but the Disney streaming service is expected to launch sometime in late 2019. Stay tuned to CinemaBlend for more updates, and don't forget to look through our 2018 release schedule to find out what movies are arriving in a traditional theatrical setting later this year.
