Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley to tap their way through Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers biopic
Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley are soon to be dancing cheek to cheek.
Bell and Qualley's representatives have confirmed to EW that the duo is set to star as iconic Hollywood dance team Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers in a new biopic.
Amazon Studios and production company Automatik are behind the film, tentatively titled Fred & Ginger. Jonathan Entwistle (The End of the F*cking World) will direct.
Reportedly, the biopic, which is from a script by Arash Amel (A Private War), will center on an off-screen love story between the two stars. This is likely to draw early ire from Astaire and Rogers devotees, considering all historical records and biographies about both halves of the duo hitherto now contain no whiff of such a romance.
The pair are well-known for having been a perfect romantic duo on-screen, yet professional, albeit somewhat distant, in their personal lives. Rogers did go by Astaire's nickname for her, "Feathers," after a wardrobe incident on Top Hat for much of her life. But the two also eventually ended their on-screen partnership out of a mutual desire to seek roles and films with more depth.
Both Qualley and Bell have deep dance roots. Qualley is a professionally trained ballet dancer and previously portrayed famous hoofer Ann Reinking in FX's Fosse/Verdon. Bell, of course, first endeared himself to audiences as pint-sized Billy Elliot in the musical film of the same name about a young boy in an English mining town who dreams of becoming a dancer.
This also won't be Bell's first Old Hollywood biopic. He previously starred as silver screen siren Gloria Grahame's love interest in Film Stars Don't Die in Liverpool opposite Annette Bening.
Further details including the projected start and release date are still to come.
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