Tom Holland is a great Spider-Man because of his history with dance and gymnastics. So, when news broke that Sony’s Amy Pascal wanted Holland for her Fred Astaire biopic, I thought it was a perfect choice. And now Holland has confirmed the casting! That’s right, we’re going to have a Fred Astaire movie with Holland as the dancer himself!
According to Variety, the film is in the very early stages of development, but it is something that Pascal has talked about previously, excited to have Holland attached to the project. And it is frankly good casting, because making a movie about someone like Fred Astaire means getting someone you know can dance. It isn’t a role you can teach someone to dance for, and Holland has proven time and time again that he’s up to it.
Not only does Holland break the internet with videos like his performance of “Umbrella” on Lip Sync Battle or in videos with Zendaya, but he was also one of the Billy Elliots in Billy Elliot the Musical on the West End!
Talking with AP, Holland confirmed the casting but said he hasn’t gotten the full script yet.“The script came in a week ago,” Holland said. “I haven’t read it yet; they haven’t given it to me.” And, apparently, Amy Pascal has gotten the script and was so excited to talk to Holland about it that they chatted while he was … in the bath? “She FaceTimed me earlier. I was in the bath,” Holland recalled. “And we had a lovely FaceTime, but I will be playing Fred Astaire.”
To make the other Billy Elliot fans happy, Holland isn’t the only former boy who wanted to dance heading into Astaire’s shoes. Jamie Bell, who originated the role in the 2000 film, is going to be playing Astaire in a film opposite Margaret Qualley’s Ginger Rogers. So it really is electricity for those of us who loved the movie and musical. (Get it? Like the song that Elton John wrote for Billy Elliot the Musical? Anyway …)
And sure, I think that Holland would also make a great Gene Kelly, but that’s a conversation for a different day. The thing about Fred Astaire is that we could watch him dance for hours on end, just flawlessly moving about the floor, and there is clearly something that magnetic about Holland as a performer, as well. So, bringing his energy to a man like Fred Astaire works.
There’s no news yet on how far into Astaire’s life the movie will go, but it is an exciting adventure for Holland outside of his role as Peter Parker/Spider-Man in the Marvel Cinematic Universe. It’s not another franchise or a movie with his Marvel directors (like Cherry or Uncharted), but it is a great step in his career, and hopefully the film has an amazing script to give Holland and Fred Astaire the film they both deserve.
(image: Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)
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