Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter join Tom Holland in Sony's Fred Astaire biopic
Margaret Qualley will play Adele Astaire and Sabrina Carpenter will play Ginger Rogers opposite Tom Holland's Fred Astaire in Sony's untitled biopic from 'Paddington' director Paul King. Production is reportedly set to begin in early 2027.
AI-assisted · US Brief desk · Sources listed below
What happened
Sony's Fred Astaire movie has found its dance partners. Margaret Qualley will play Adele Astaire, Fred's sister and first stage partner, and pop star Sabrina Carpenter will play Ginger Rogers, opposite Tom Holland as Astaire, Deadline reported.
The project: Paul King, the director of 'Paddington 2' and 'Wonka', is directing from a script he wrote with Steven Levenson, the Tony-winning writer of 'Dear Evan Hansen'. The film is based on Kathleen Riley's book 'The Astaires: Fred & Adele', which follows the siblings' vaudeville and Broadway partnership before Fred's Hollywood career. Amy Pascal and Rachel O'Connor of Pascal Pictures produce with Lightbulb and Holland's Billy17. Astaire's daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, supports the project, according to the reports.
Why the casting stands out: Carpenter is best known as a chart-topping singer and has several VMA nominations this year; playing Rogers means matching one of film's most famous dance partnerships. King has said that no film footage of Adele Astaire dancing is known to survive, leaving the filmmakers to reconstruct the act that made the siblings stars in the 1920s.
Why it matters
Big-budget original musicals and music biopics are a risk for studios, but Sony is pairing a proven director with two young stars who have large fan bases, and on a true story that begins on the stage.
What’s next
Watch for the rest of the cast, choreographer and composer announcements, and a release date from Sony.
More context
Holland's run: The film comes after a strong stretch for Holland, whose 'Spider-Man: Brand New Day' passed $2 billion worldwide and whose role in Christopher Nolan's 'The Odyssey' was part of a $1.72 billion global hit, according to the trade coverage.
Uncertainty: Sony has not announced a title or release date, and the early-2027 production start is reported rather than officially dated. Casting for other roles has not been announced.
3 listed sources
- Deadline (Justin Kroll, Dessi Gomez), Sep 25, 2026: Margaret Qualley and Sabrina Carpenter join Tom Holland in Fred Astaire biopic
- Variety, Sep 25, 2026: Sabrina Carpenter to play Ginger Rogers in Sony's Fred Astaire movie
- Polygon, Sep 25, 2026: Tom Holland's Fred Astaire biopic adds Margaret Qualley, Sabrina Carpenter
References listed by US Brief; a source count is not a verification score.
Editorial sourcing notes
Casting and creative details follow Deadline (Justin Kroll and Dessi Gomez, Sep 25, 2026), with Variety and Polygon. Sony has not announced a title or release date; the early-2027 production start is as reported by the trades. Box office figures for Holland's recent films are as reported in that coverage. The image is a 1935 public-domain RKO publicity still of the real Astaire and Rogers, not the new cast.
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