Sabrina Carpenter, Margaret Qualley as well as Talia Ryder have joined the cast of the upcoming Fred Astaire biopic, which will feature Tom Holland as the legendary film actor and dancer.
Carpenter will portray the role of Ginger Rogers, Fred’s co-star and dance partner; while Qualley is set to play Adele Astaire, Fred’s older sister. Ryder was cast to portray June Allyson, a fellow dancer and MGM actress.
Paul King is at the helm of the biopic, with Steven Levenson serving as his co-writer for the screenplay. The film is based on Kathleen Riley’s book ‘The Astaires: Fred and Adele.’
‘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.
‘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,’ he added. ‘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.’
Fred, regarded as one of the greatest dancers of all time, had a seven-decade career in film and on stage in Broadway and the West End before he died in 1987 at the age of 88.