Tom Holland has found his dance partners for Sony’s yet-to-be-titled Fred Astaire biopic: Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter.
As previously announced, Holland will play the debonair dancer in the upcoming Sony film, directed by Paul King, with Amy Pascal producing. Golden Globe nominee Qualley (“Maid,” “The Substance,” “Love of Your Life”) will star as Adele Astaire, while Grammy winner Carpenter will portray Ginger Rogers. Fred and Adele were major stars on Broadway and London’s West End before Fred went on to be one of cinema’s greatest stars, with co-star and dance partner Ginger Rogers.
“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 in a statement about the casting news. “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 twentieth century is one that I could not imagine without Tom Holland, Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter by my side.”
King directs from a script he co-wrote with Steven Levenson, based on the book “The Astaires: Fred & Adele” by Kathleen Riley. Riley also serves as a script and story consultant.
Ava Astaire McKenzie, Fred Astaire’s daughter, and her son, Tyler McKenzie, who serves as a consultant and co-producer on the project, also shared their support.
“I’m delighted to support this endeavor to celebrate the extraordinary careers and enduring legacy of my father and aunt, who were among the biggest musical stars of their era,” said Astaire McKenzie. “With Kathleen Riley’s seminal biography as its foundation, and the creative team in place, the story of their partnership both on and off the stage is in the best care.”
McKenzie added: “Guided by the incredible filmmaking team led by director Paul King, writer Steven Levenson, producer Amy Pascal and Tom Holland, I know their legacy will be beautifully brought to life for a whole new generation.”
Fred Astaire starred in more than 30 film musicals, in addition to his stage career on Broadway and the West End over the course of a seven-decade career. Astaire is usually remembered for his pairings with Rogers, who starred in several films with him, including the classics “Swing Time,” “The Gay Divorcee” and “Top Hat.”
Holland has been attached to star as Astaire for five years, and after spending the summer with dominating the box office with “Spider-Man: Brand New Day” and “The Odyssey,” he’s been rehearsing for the part. (The movies are the two highest-grossing films of 2026.)
“I’m diving back into the dance studio,” Holland teased during a recent appearance on “Good Morning America.”
One might remember that before he was a Marvel superhero, Holland began his acting career on the London stage, playing the title role in “Billy Elliot the Musical” on the West End from 2008 to 2010. With that background, Holland also said that he intended to do all of the dancing himself. “I have a desire to use no doubles, to do all of the dancing, to shoot those dances in one shot — how he would have done it.”
Holland is billed among the producers of the Fred Astaire film (via his Billy 17 banner), alongside Pascal and Rachel O’Connor; 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 (Altitude Films) and Levenson.
Holland is repped by WME and Sloane Offer; Qualley is repped by CAA, Anonymous Content and Sloane Offer; Carpenter is repped by Paradigm Talent Agency, Foundation Media Partners, Volara Management, Perlman Management Group and Goodman Genow; and King is repped by Independent Talent Group, WME and Davis Law Group.
Deadline first reported news of Qualley and Carpenter’s involvement.
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