Joining forces with 'Billy Elliot' screenwriter, Paul King is still 'trying to find the story in the script' for the upcoming movie about late Hollywood icon Fred Astaire.
- Feb 26, 2024
AceShowbiz - Paul King is "working on a script" for Tom Holland's Fred Astaire biopic. The "Wonka" filmmaker is teaming up with "Billy Elliot" screenwriter Lee Hall on a movie about the Hollywood film and dance icon and his tapping into the scribe's knowledge of the era to craft 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," he said to ComicBook.com.
"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."
The film was first announced in 2021 and is said to center on the relationship between Fred and his sister Adele Astaire. The pair were inseparable for more than 20 years and moved from a Midwestern vaudeville act in the early part of the 20th century to Broadway and London's West End in the 1920s.
Adele was initially the face of the act but was eventually eclipsed by Fred's consummate stage skills. The duo parted in 1932 when she married, which came as a blow to Fred. However, it turned his focus toward Hollywood dance musicals and subsequently set him on the path to cinematic legend.
Tom - who started his acting career in "Billy Elliot the Musical" in the West End - revealed last year that he hoped to wear his "tap shoes" again but had no definitive confirmation that the biopic was going ahead.
The Spider-Man actor said, "The movie is being developed. Scripts are being written. Meetings are being had. Like anything in the film industry, whether it happens or not is another thing, but we are working towards it as if it is happening. Hopefully, we can find a way to tell the story in the way it needs to be told. I'd love to put my tap shoes on again to portray that character, but we'll have to wait and see."
