EXCLUSIVE: Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter have joined Tom Holland in the Spider-Man star’s next project: the untilted Fred Astaire biopic in which Holland will portray the American actor and dancer.
The development comes nearly five years after Holland first revealed that he would be leading the project.
Qualley will star as Adele Astaire and Carpenter will star as Ginger Rogers. Fred and Adele were major stars on Broadway and London’s West End before Fred Astaire went on to be one of cinema’s greatest stars with co-star and dance partner Ginger Rogers.
Paul King will direct the film, which is produced by Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor, Tom Holland on behalf of Billy17, and Ben Holden and Josh Hyams on behalf of Lightbulb Pictures. Executive Producers are Harry Holland and Will South on behalf of Billy17, Will Clarke and Andy Mayson on behalf Altitude Filmed Entertainment and Steve Levenson. Ava Astaire McKenzie lends her support to the project. Her son, Tyler McKenzie, serves as a consultant and co-producer.
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“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, based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley. Riley also serves as a script and story consultant.
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Qualley is coming off of The Dog Stars in which she starred alongside Jacob Elordi, Josh Brolin and Guy Pearce. She made her her debut on HBO’s The Leftovers. Last year, she earned a Golden Globe nomination for The Substance, opposite Demi Moore, which received multiple Academy Award nominations, including Best Picture. She received Emmy nominations for her roles in FX’s Fosse/Verdon and Netflix’s Maid. She also starred in Ethan Coen’s Drive-Away Dolls. Additional credits include A24’s How to Make a Killing, Ethan Coen’s Honey Don’t, Yorgos Lanthimos’ Poor Things and Kinds of Kindness, Netflix’s Maid, Fosse/Verdon, Blue Moon, Sanctuary, Stars at Noon, Once Upon a Time in Hollywood, Native Son, Seberg, and her debut film Palo Alto. She is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content, and Sloane and Offer.
Two-time Grammy-winning superstar, Sabrina Carpenter most recently received her first Primetime Emmy Nomination in the Outstanding Variety Special (Pre-Recorded) category recognizing her work as an Executive Producer and Performer in The Muppet Show. Her film credits include The Short History of the Long Road, Work It and The Hate U Give. She is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency, Foundation Media Partners, Volara Management, Perlman Management Group, and Goodman Genow.
Holland began his career as a dancer on the West End stage where he played the titular role from 2008 to 2010 in the dance-driven musical about a boy born to dance, Billy Elliot The Musical, written by Lee Hall. Holland can currently be seen in Sony Pictures’ Spider-Man: Brand New Day, which is breaking global and domestic box office records with a worldwide gross of over $2 Billion and The Odyssey. He is repped by WME and Sloane Offer.
Paul King most recently directed Warner Brothers’ Wonka, starring Timothée Chalamet. He also directed the first two Paddington films, which were critical and box office successes, collectively earning nearly $500 million globally. King executive produced the third film in the series, Paddington Goes to Peru and is writing a sequel to Wonka. He is repped by Independent Talent Group, WME, and Davis Law Group.
