‘Spider-Man’s Tom Holland to play Fred Astaire in new biopic
He will play the iconic dancer Fred Astaire in a new biopic about his life
By Jen Thomas
Marvel’s Tom Holland has confirmed he will play iconic dancer Fred Astaire in a new biopic about his life.
Before landing the role of Spider-Man in the MCU, Tom made his name performing as Billy Elliot in the West End from 2008 to 2010. He is a trained dancer and graduated from the BRIT School for Performing Arts.
The news of his role surfaced briefly, but this is the first time Holland himself has confirmed it.
GQ mentioned the role in a profile, but the Spider-Man actor revealed his casting while talking to AP on the red carpet ahead of the latest Marvel film: “Oh, I am playing Fred Astaire. The script came in a week ago.
However, he revealed he hasn’t had a chance to look through it: “I haven’t read it yet, they haven’t given it to me. I know that Amy Pascal has the script. She FaceTimed me earlier – I was in the bath – and we had a lovely FaceTime. But I will be playing Fred Astaire.”
Tom is due to be promoting the latest Spider-Man for the next few months, as well as video game adaptation Uncharted in February. He will play the game’s lead character, Nathan Drake.
So far there are very few details about what the film will involve and who else has been cast.
Fred Astaire’s dancing and acting career spanned some 70 years, and his partnership with Ginger Rogers was legendary.
Holland’s project isn’t the only Astaire film in the works, after Amazon Studios confirmed a biopic about the duo is coming.
Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley have been cast as the duo for Amazon’s project, which follows their partnership, from ‘Flying Down to Rio’ in 1933 and ending with ‘The Barkleys of Broadway’ in 1949.
Holland previously went viral for his Lip Sync Battle performance to Rihanna’s ‘Umbrella’, battling against Spider-Man co-star Zendaya.
It was the first time many of his fans had seen Tom dance, and an upload of the performance has more than 104 million views.