Sabrina Carpenter and Margaret Qualley have joined the cast of an untitled Fred Astaire biopic, starring Tom Holland as the lauded triple-threat performer. Deadline was first to report the news.
Carpenter will play Astaire’s Oscar-winning dance partner Ginger Rogers, who co-starred with the dancer/actor in 10 films, including 1935’s Top Hat and 1936’s Swing Time. Qualley will play Fred’s big sister Adele Astaire, who performed on Broadway alongside her brother before he rose to Hollywood superstardom.
This will mark a reunion for Carpenter and Qualley, as the pair (alongside Madelyn Cline) starred earlier this year in the music video for Carpenter’s “House Tour” single from Man’s Best Friend.
While she’s stayed busy over the past decade-plus building her mega-watt pop music career, Carpenter first rose to fame as an actress in the 2014-17 Disney Channel series Girl Meets World, so this will mark a return to form for her. Last year, it was also announced that Carpenter will produce and star in an Alice in Wonderland musical film for Universal Pictures.
Holland first revealed back in 2021 that he was set to play Astaire in a feature biopic, and this casting news seems to indicate that the ball is finally rolling on the project.
Paul King (Wonka, Paddington) is directing the film. “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,” King said, according to Deadline. “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.”
The film is being produced by Amy Pascal and Rachel O’Connor, Holland (Billy17), and Ben Holden and Josh Hyams (Lightbulb Pictures). Executive producers are Harry Holland and Will South (Billy17), Will Clarke and Andy Mayson (Altitude Films), and Steven Levenson. Ava Astaire McKenzie, the 84-year-old daughter of Fred Astaire, is lending support to the project while her son, Tyler McKenzie, is a consultant and co-producer.
