Qualley, Carpenter Join Holland in Astaire Biopic — SkimNews
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- Tom Holland will star as Fred Astaire in Sony's untitled biopic, with Margaret Qualley cast as sister Adele Astaire and Sabrina Carpenter as Ginger Rogers, directed by Paul King and produced by Amy Pascal.
- King co-wrote the script with Steven Levenson based on Kathleen Riley's book "The Astaires: Fred & Adele," with Riley also serving as story consultant; Fred's daughter Ava Astaire McKenzie and grandson Tyler McKenzie are attached as consultant and co-producer.
- Holland has been attached to play Astaire for five years and told "Good Morning America" he is "diving back into the dance studio," pledging no dance doubles and to shoot routines in one shot "how he would have done it."
- King framed the casting as a restoration project, noting that Fred's legacy lives on through his Rogers collaborations but Adele's work "has been lost to history; indeed, no footage of her dancing survives."
- Holland comes to the role fresh off the two highest-grossing films of 2026 — "Spider-Man: Brand New Day" and "The Odyssey" — and began his career on stage as Billy Elliot in the West End from 2008 to 2010.
- Fred Astaire starred in more than 30 film musicals across a seven-decade career, with Rogers as his partner in classics including "Swing Time," "The Gay Divorcee" and "Top Hat."
- Deadline first reported Qualley and Carpenter's involvement in the biopic.
Why it matters: Sony's casting gives Adele Astaire — whose dance work left no surviving footage — equal narrative weight with Fred's iconic Rogers partnership, reframing a familiar story around a forgotten partner. For Holland, fresh off the two biggest 2026 box-office hits, a no-doubles, one-shot dancing commitment signals this is a prestige swing built on his own physical performance rather than stunt work.
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