Jamie Bell And Margaret Qualley Are Going To Swing Time Into A Fred Astaire, Ginger Rogers Biopic

You say either and I say either, you say Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers, and Amazon Studios says: Jamie Bell and Margaret Qualley. The Rocketman actor and the Once Upon a Time in Hollywood actress have been cast as the iconic dancing duo in a Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers biopic, titled Fred & Ginger.

Margaret Qualley is about to dance backwards, and in heels, with Jamie Bell in Fred & Ginger, a new biopic about the cinematic dancing icons Fred Astaire and Ginger Rogers from Amazon Studios and Automatik. Fred & Ginger, which will be directed by The End of the F*cking World creator Jonathan Entwistle and penned by A Private War writer Arash Amel, will tell "the untold, real love story between these two legends both on- and off-screen," according to The Hollywood Reporter.

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.