Qualley and Carpenter Join Tom Holland’s Fred Astaire Film

Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter have joined Tom Holland in a planned film about Fred Astaire, with Qualley set to play Astaire’s older sister and stage partner, Adele, and Carpenter cast as Ginger Rogers, Astaire’s longtime film collaborator. Holland is set to portray Astaire in the currently untitled project, which is to be directed by Paul King. The casting was announced September 25. The film will tell the story of Fred and Adele Astaire, who performed together on Broadway and in London’s West End before Fred Astaire became a major film star. Rogers later partnered with him in a series of musical films. King and Steven Levenson wrote the screenplay, based on Kathleen Riley’s book The Astaires: Fred and Adele. Riley is also a script and story consultant. Producers include Amy Pascal, Rachel O’Connor, Ben Holden and Josh Hyams, as well as Holland through his Billy17 banner. The project’s reported credits also name executive producers, but no production timetable or release date has been announced in the available details. King said Adele Astaire’s dancing is difficult to recreate because no footage of her performing survives.