Fashion designer Tom Ford has enlisted Adele to star in his upcoming film adaptation of Anne Rice’s “Cry to Heaven,” announced his production company on Wednesday. Adele, known for her music career, will make her acting debut in this project alongside a star-studded ensemble cast that includes Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, George MacKay, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Owen Cooper, and Hunter Schafer. Specific details about their roles have not been disclosed yet.
Adele’s latest musical release was the album “30” in 2021. Instead of going on tour for the album, she performed a residency titled “Weekends with Adele” in Las Vegas, which concluded in 2024 after 100 shows. Joining a lineage of singers venturing into acting, Adele follows in the footsteps of artists like Charli XCX, Lady Gaga, Harry Styles, and A$AP Rocky, who have also explored the acting realm.
The original novel by Rice, dating back to 1982, is set in 18th-century Italy’s opera scene and revolves around two characters from contrasting backgrounds: a peasant and a Venetian noble. “Cry to Heaven” will be Ford’s third feature film, following his directorial debuts with “A Single Man” in 2009 and “Nocturnal Animals” in 2016. The screenplay for the film, currently in pre-production in London and Rome with an anticipated release in fall 2026, was penned by Ford, as reported by Deadline.
Known for financing his own projects, Ford once stated to The Associated Press in 2016, “I will only ever make a movie if I control the underlying rights.”