Jennifer Hudson, Taylor Swift join 'Cats' movie adaptation

July 20 (UPI) -- Jennifer Hudson and Taylor Swift have joined Working Title's movie adaptation of Cats.

Deadline confirmed Friday the 36-year-old singer and actress and 28-year-old pop star will star in the big-screen version of Andrew Lloyd Webber's musical.

The Late Late Show host James Corden and Lord of the Rings star Ian McKellen have also signed on to the project. Additional casting is in the works.

Variety said Hudson will play Grizabella, the "Glamour Cat" who performs the well-known song "Memory." Details have yet to emerge about Swift, Corden and McKellen's roles.

Tom Hooper, the Oscar-winning director of The King's Speech, will direct the Cats film. The movie is scheduled to begin production in the U.K. in November.

Cats is based on the T.S. Eliot book Old Possum's Book of Practical Cats. The West End musical starring Elaine Paige as Grizabella debuted in 1981, while the Broadway version with Betty Buckley opened the next year.