Tom Holland Is Playing Fred Astaire In A New Biopic
25-year-old Tom Holland is not only a web-slinging comic book hero who CGI-swings around New York City as Spider-Man. He’s also a badass dancer IRL. We’ve all seen him do Rihanna‘s Umbrella like he recorded and produced the song himself, and that’s just the tip of the iceberg. Tom got his start dancing in stage musicals and also knows gymnastics. So when it came time to cast a cute skinny boy to play Fred Astaire in a new biopic, the choice was clear! I mean, Timothee Chalamet doesn’t dance as far as I know, so who else could they have chosen? But I have to ask: WWFAS (What would Fred Astaire say?). No, seriously, because Fred Astaire didn’t want any movies made about him.
Variety says that at the UK photocall for Spider-Man: No Way Home, Tom revealed he will play Fred Astaire in a biopic from Sony. Producer Amy Pascal, who was the head of Sony for years, has said before that she wanted Tom to play Fred:
“The script came in a week ago,” Holland told reporters. “I haven’t read it yet; they haven’t given it to me.”
Pascal has received the script though, Holland noted. “She FaceTimed me earlier. I was in the bath,” he said with a laugh. “And we had a lovely FaceTime, but I will be playing Fred Astaire.”
And in true Hollywood form, it’s already a saturated market for Fred Astaire biopics. Amazon Studios is working on a second one which will star Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley as Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers. That biopic will focus more on Fred and Ginger as a duo between 1933’s Flying Down to Rio and 1949’s The Barkleys of Broadway.
Tom should be careful because, in Tim Satchell’s book Astaire: The Biography, it’s written that Fred, who died in 1987, did not want his life made into a movie and even put that clause in his will. via Wikipedia:
Astaire’s life has never been portrayed on film. He always refused permission for such portrayals, saying, “However much they offer me—and offers come in all the time—I shall not sell.” Astaire’s will included a clause requesting that no such portrayal ever take place; he commented, “It is there because I have no particular desire to have my life misinterpreted, which it would be.”
Tom better hope Fred’s ghost doesn’t trip him and break his ankle because something tells me that he won’t be as accepting as Princess Diana’s ghost was to Kristen Stewart.
Here’s possible Fred Astaire enemy #1 and his co-star/girlfriend Zendaya at the photocall for Spider-Man:
Pics: Wenn.com