Talia Ryder joins Tom Holland's Fred Astaire biopic as June Allyson
Talia Ryder is lacing up her dance shoes for Sony's Fred Astaire biopic. The Never Rarely Sometimes Always breakout has signed on to play June Allyson, the MGM dancer and actress who was originally set to star opposite Astaire in the 1951 musical Royal Wedding.
Allyson was pencilled in to dance with Astaire in Royal Wedding — the movie best remembered for the sequence where Astaire appears to tap across the ceiling — before the part went another way. Putting Ryder in that role, rather than as a straightforward on-screen partner, signals the film's interest in the era's wider circle of performers.
The casting fills out a Golden Age ensemble that is starting to look stacked. Margaret Qualley plays Adele Astaire, Fred's older sister and first Broadway partner, while Sabrina Carpenter takes on Ginger Rogers, his most famous film co-star. Tom Holland stars as the legendary dancer himself.
For Holland, the project has long felt personal; Billy17, the company he runs, is among the producers. Paddington filmmaker Paul King is directing from a screenplay he wrote with Steven Levenson, adapted from Kathleen Riley's book The Astaires: Fred & Adele. Amy Pascal and Rachel O'Connor produce for Pascal Pictures, with Ben Holden and Josh Hyams for Lightbulb Pictures.
A dancer in the room
Ryder arrives with the right résumé for a part built around movement. She is a classically trained dancer who appeared in Steven Spielberg's West Side Story, and she launched her career in the Broadway production of Matilda the Musical. She also appeared opposite Qualley in Ethan Coen's Honey Don't, so the two have already shared a screen — and now they'll share a Golden Age dance floor.
Astaire's own family is in the room, too. His daughter, Ava Astaire McKenzie, has thrown her support behind the film, and her son Tyler McKenzie serves as consultant and co-producer on the project.
Ryder, who is repped by UTA, LBI and Vainshtein Law, keeps a busy slate after this: she will next be seen in Amazon MGM's 4 Kids Walk Into A Bank and the second season of Prime Video's Mr. & Mrs. Smith.
