@Courtesy of IM Global
Tom Ford has revealed the cast list for his upcoming film Cry to Heaven, an adaptation of a novel by Anne Rice that he is self-financing. Ford plans to shop the film around to distributors when it is completed, with an anticipated release date in Fall 2026. Preproduction is now underway in London and Rome, and filming is expected to begin in the middle of January.
The full cast list will include Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Ciarán Hinds, George MacKay, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Owen Cooper, Daryl McCormack, Thandiwe Newton, Hunter Schafer, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Josephine Thiesen, Theodore Pellerin, Cassian Bilton, Hauk Hannemann and Lux Pascal.
Also appearing in the movie will be the British singer Adele, who will be making her feature-film debut. The story follows two would-be opera singers, a nobleman from Venice and a castrated singer from Calabria.
Anne Rice was one of the most acclaimed fantasy writers of her generation. Seven of her novels were adapted for the big screen, including Interview With the Vampire (1994), a Warner Bros. production starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.
Ford, who frequented Studio 54 during its heyday, had earlier been a successful fashion designer and creative director for Gucci and Yves St Laurent before entering the film world. He sold his clothing label to Estee Lauder in 2023 for $2.3 billion. He established the Fade to Black production company and has already made two films.
Ford’s first film, A Single Man, which he wrote, produced, and directed, debuted at the Venice Film Festival in 2009 and earned an Oscar nomination and a BAFTA win. His second offering, Nocturnal Animals, captured the Grand Jury prize at Venice in 2016 and received nine BAFTA nominations and three Golden Globe nominations. Aaron Taylor-Johnson won an Oscar for Best Supporting Actor for his role, for which Michael Shannon was also nominated.