Adele is stepping into new creative territory, making her acting debut in Tom Ford’s forthcoming adaptation of Anne Rice’s Cry to Heaven. The film, announced by Ford’s production company on Wednesday, marks the third directorial feature for the fashion designer turned filmmaker, who will also write and produce the project.
The singer will appear as part of a distinguished ensemble cast featuring Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, George MacKay, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Adolescence breakout Owen Cooper and Hunter Schafer. While specific roles have yet to be revealed, the casting promises a richly textured take on Rice’s operatic world.
First published in 1982, Rice’s novel is set in 18th-century Italy and delves into the lavish yet brutal world of opera. It follows two men from vastly different social standings — one born into poverty, the other a Venetian noble — whose lives intertwine in a story of ambition, betrayal and beauty.
Cry to Heaven will be Ford’s first feature since the 2016 psychological thriller Nocturnal Animals, which followed his acclaimed 2009 debut, A Single Man. True to form, Ford will finance the production independently, a practice he has maintained throughout his film career. “I will only ever make a movie if I control the underlying rights,” he told The Associated Press in 2016.
The film is currently in pre-production and is expected to release in late autumn 2026. With Adele joining the cast, anticipation is already high for how the singer’s dramatic instincts — honed through her emotionally charged music — will translate to the screen.
From the concert stage to the film set, Cry to Heaven signals an intriguing new chapter for Adele and a return to cinema for Ford, where style and storytelling once again converge.
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