Five years after the project was first announced, Tom Holland‘s untitled Fred Astaire biopic is finally moving ahead at Sony.
According to Deadline, Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter have joined the movie as Adele Astaire and Ginger Rogers, respectively. Fred and Adele were major stars on Broadway and London’s West End before Fred Astaire became one of cinema’s greatest stars with co-star and dance partner Ginger Rogers.
Paul King will direct the film. He most recently helmed Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. He also directed the first two Paddington films.
“I am thrilled and honored to have been entrusted with telling the story of Fred Astaire and his original dance partner — his big sister Adele — to the big screen. Fred left a timeless legacy of dance on film — most famously in his collaborations with Ginger Rogers — while Adele’s work has been lost to history; indeed, no footage of her dancing survives,” King said. “The cinematic challenge of bringing to life these icons of the twentieth century is one that I could not imagine without Tom Holland, Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter by my side.”
Steven Levenson and King wrote the script for the upcoming biopic, based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley. Riley also serves as a script and story consultant.
Holland, of course, will play Astaire. The Spider-Man: Brand New Day actor first revealed his involvement in the project back in December 2021, during the promotion of Spider-Man: No Way Home.
The actor began his career as a dancer on the West End stage, so he’s a pretty good pick for Astaire. With Qualley and Carpenter joining him, and King in the director’s chair, there’s some serious talent attached to this biopic that will surely make it an award contender whenever it ends up coming out.
Are you a fan of Fred Astaire? What do you think about the actors cast in his biopic so far?
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