Emmy nominee Margaret Qualley (Fosse/Verdon, Maid, The Substance) and Emmy winner and musician Sabrina Carpenter have signed on to join Spider-Man star Tom Holland in the Untitled Fred Astaire biopic that is in the works from director Paul King (Paddington, Wonka).
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 Rogers.
King said of the project and casting, “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.
“The cinematic challenge of bringing to life these icons of the 20th century is one that I could not imagine without Tom Holland, Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter by my side.”
Steven Levenson (Fosse/Verdon, tick, tick… BOOM!, Dear Evan Hansen) and King wrote the script, based on the book The Astaires: Fred & Adele by Kathleen Riley. Riley serves as a script and story consultant.
via: Deadline
