Tom Holland Finds His Leading Ladies as Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter Join Fred Astaire Biopic

Tom Holland has spent much of this year proving he can carry blockbusters well beyond the Spider-Man suit, and his next challenge represents perhaps his biggest departure yet from the franchise that made him a star. After a summer defined by ‘Spider-Man: Brand New Day’ and ‘The Odyssey,’ the actor is now stepping into the tap shoes of one of Hollywood’s most celebrated entertainers.

That long-gestating passion project has been years in the making, with Holland first revealing his attachment to the role back in 2021. What started as a distant dream has now progressed significantly, bringing the untitled Sony Pictures production one crucial step closer to reality.

Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter have officially joined Holland in the film, rounding out the principal cast for Sony’s long-awaited Fred Astaire biopic. Qualley will portray Adele Astaire, Fred’s older sister and original dance partner, while Carpenter takes on the role of Ginger Rogers, the actress whose on-screen partnership with Astaire produced some of the most iconic musical sequences of the 1930s.

Director Paul King, best known for ‘Paddington’ and ‘Wonka,’ expressed enthusiasm about assembling this particular trio for such a demanding project. “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. “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.”

The film is based on Kathleen Riley’s biography ‘The Astaires: Fred & Adele,’ with King co-writing the screenplay alongside Steven Levenson. Riley herself is serving as a script and story consultant on the project, lending historical grounding to a story that predates Astaire’s Hollywood fame entirely.

That focus on Adele Astaire marks a notable shift from how Fred Astaire’s legacy is typically remembered. Before he became one of cinema’s defining musical stars alongside Ginger Rogers, Fred and Adele performed together as a vaudeville act before rising to major stardom on Broadway and London’s West End. Adele’s stage career ended when she stepped away from show business, and because no footage of her dancing survives today, King’s film represents a rare attempt to recreate a piece of dance history that exists largely through written accounts alone.

Casting Qualley in that role adds another period performance to a résumé that already includes ‘Fosse/Verdon,’ making her a natural fit for a project built around recreating a lost era of stage and screen. Carpenter, meanwhile, brings her own musical background to the role of Ginger Rogers, having increasingly leaned into classic Hollywood-inspired visuals throughout her music career alongside earlier acting credits in ‘The Hate U Give’ and ‘Work It.’

The production has also received public support from Fred Astaire’s daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, whose son Tyler McKenzie is serving as a consultant and co-producer on the film. “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,” Astaire McKenzie said.

That family backing carries added weight given past tensions over biographical portrayals of Astaire, whose widow Robyn Astaire had previously opposed dramatized depictions of his life. Amy Pascal is producing the film alongside Rachel O’Connor, with Holland also producing through his own Billy17 banner.

With its two key female leads now locked in and a script grounded in Riley’s biography, Sony’s Fred Astaire project looks positioned to become one of the more ambitious awards-season swings on the studio’s upcoming slate.

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