Jamie Bell And Margaret Qualley Are Going To Swing Time Into A Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers Biopic
By Hoai-Tran Bui/Dec. 11, 2020 5:00 pm EST
Astaire and Rogers are probably the most famous dancing partners in cinema, starring in a total of 10 films together, including classics like The Gay Divorcee, Top Hat, Swing Time, and Shall We Dance. Not all of those films are all-time greats, nor are the beloved classics imperfect either (each one is basically a rehash of The Gay Divorcee’s formula, in which Astaire’s character aggressively pursues Roger’s character, and they clash only to find a kinship through dance) but damn, did Astair and Rogers look good when they danced together. Their dance chemistry made up for some of the lazier formulas of their films, and resulted in iconic sequences like their roller-skate duet, “Heaven” from Top Hat, or my favorite of their’s, the Swing Time tap dance.
Bell’s casting here is no surprise, as the former child star got his breakout role as the ballet-dancing working class boy in Billy Elliot, and he’s maintained his dance and singing skills in other projects like the FX series Fosse/Verdon and films like Rocketman. Qualley, meanwhile, is more untested, though she managed to hold her own against Brad Pitt in Once Upon a Time in Hollywood (neither singing nor dancing, though). She’ll get arguably the harder job as Ginger Rogers, having to dance play an icon and dance backwards and in heels, as the star was famously described as having to do as Astaire’s screen and dance partner.
Fred Berger and Brian Kavanaugh-Jones will produce Fred & Ginger for Automatik, along with Bell, Qualley, and Amel. Max Minghella will executive produce under his and Bell’s Blank Tape banner. Gemma Levinson will be overseeing for Automatik.
