By “Paddington 2” and “Wonka” director Paul King, hot off of the success of the latter film’s $600 million+ theatrical run, says his next project is still moving forward.
King’s name has been attached for a while to a biopic of legendary dancer Fred Astaire with “Spider-Man: No Way Home” star Tom Holland set to play the role.
Astaire was an actor/dancer/choreographer/singer widely considered the “greatest popular music dancer of all time” with a career spanning over seventy years including more than 10 Broadway and West End musicals and 31 musical films.
During a recent interview with ComicBook.com, King confirmed the film is currently in the scripting stage of pre-production with he and “Rocketman” scribe Lee Hall working on the story:
“We’re working on a script right now. I’m working on a script with Lee Hall, who’s a great, great, great writer, a great screenwriter. And he’s incredibly well versed in the era and he’s historically, incredibly knowledgeable as well.
Clearly, he knows his dance inside and out. So, I’ve been working with him and learning a huge amount. But again, it’s like we’re trying to find the story in the script and hopefully something will happen. But, we’ll see.”
Holland, who got his start in the West End production of “Billy Elliot The Musical” at age 13, has been cast in the role for a while now. Whilst he waits, he’s about to star in a stage adaptation of “Romeo & Juliet”.
Amy Pascal, Rachael O’Conner, Ben Holden, and Josh Hyams will be producing the Astaire biopic.
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