Renowned British singer-songwriter, Adele, is set to make her acting début in an upcoming adaptation of Anne Rice’s novel, Cry to Heaven. The new film from Tom Ford (yes fashion’s Tom Ford) is a drama set in eighteenth-century Italy in the world of Opera. The original novel, from the author of Interview with the Vampire, tells the story of two unlikely collaborators, a Venetian noble and a ‘castrati’ from Calabria, who are trying to build successful opera careers. The 1982 historical novel explores themes of identity and love, and betrayal and revenge, centred around the intense operatic lifestyle.
This adaptation of Cry to Heaven is not the first time Anne Rice’s works have made it to the screen with her best-known novel, Interview with the Vampire receiving several adaptations over the years including 1994’s film starring Tom Cruise as Lestat, Brad Pitt as Louis and Kirsten Dunst as the child vampire, Claudia. A second film adaptation of The Vampire Chronicles, Queen of the Damned, was released in February 2002. Then, in 2016, when Universal Pictures did not renew their contract to the rights for Rice’s Vampire Chronicles, the writer herself began developing a TV series with her son.
According to Deadline, Cry to Heaven will be the fashion designer turned film-maker’s third feature film, following the Oscar-nominated Christopher Isherwood adaptation, A Single Man, and the thriller, Nocturnal Animals. Singer, Adele, will star in the film alongside Nicholas Hoult (Nosferatu), Aaron Taylor-Johnson (Kraven the Hunter), Ciarán Hinds (Belfast), Thandiwe Newton (Westworld), Colin Firth (Kingsman), Mark Strong (Sherlock Holmes), Hunter Schafer (Euphoria), Daryl McCormack (Wake Up Dead Man: A Knives Out Mystery), George MacKay (For Those in Peril), Paul Bettany (WandaVision) and breakout actor from Netflix’s Adolescence, Owen Cooper.
Cry to Heaven is currently in pre-production in both London and Rome, and shooting will reportedly begin in January with a potential release date later in 2026. Ford will direct, produce and write the film, but details of the roles to be played by Adele or her fellow cast mates have yet to be announced.
