Tom Holland to play Fred Astaire in new biopic

NME

Tom Holland has revealed he will be playing legendary performer Fred Astaire in a new biopic.

The Spider-Man actor confirmed the casting after producer Amy Pascal told GQ that she was eying up the star to portray the dancing icon.

Speaking to the Associated Press, Holland said: “I am playing Fred Astaire. The script came in a week ago. I haven’t read it yet; they haven’t given it to me.”

Referencing Pascal, he added: “She FaceTimed me earlier. I was in the bath. And we had a lovely FaceTime, but I will be playing Fred Astaire.”

Promoting #SpiderManNoWayHome in London, Tom Holland says he'll play Fred Astaire in a film and discusses his future as Peter Parker. pic.twitter.com/iEhujKhFqw

— AP Entertainment (@APEntertainment) December 5, 2021

Astaire was widely regarded as the greatest dancer in film history and appeared in many classical Hollywood movies such as Top Hat and Swing Time. He was also well known for his dance partnership with Ginger Rogers.

Holland has a dance background, having starred as Billy Elliot on stage before his breakthrough in the Marvel Cinematic Universe.

Jamie Bell – who originated the role of Elliot in the 2000 film – is also set to star as the dancer alongside Margaret Qualley as Rogers in a separate Amazon Studios project called Fred & Ginger.

Holland is due to next be seen in Spider-Man: No Way Home, which despite being the conclusion to a trilogy won’t be the last time we see the actor as the webslinger.

Pascal recently confirmed that the star will appear again as the character, revealing to Fandango: “This is not the last movie that we are going to make with Marvel – [this is not] the last Spider-Man movie.

“We are getting ready to make the next Spider-Man movie with Tom Holland and Marvel, it just isn’t part of… we’re thinking of this as three films, and now we’re going to go onto the next three. This is not the last of our MCU movies.”

Holland later told French TV show Quotidien: “I don’t know what those things are or what they will transpire to be, but it looks like it’s an incredibly bright future ahead.

“And, as I’ve said before, Spider-Man will forever live in me.”

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