Grammy Award-winning superstar Adele is stepping onto the big screen for the first time, making her acting debut in Cry to Heaven, the upcoming feature from acclaimed fashion designer and filmmaker Tom Ford. The announcement was confirmed on November 12, 2025, marking a significant career pivot for the British singer who has dominated the music industry for over a decade.
Cry to Heaven is an adaptation of Anne Rice’s 1982 novel of the same name, a historical drama set in 18th-century Italy that explores the lives of castrated opera singers, known as castrati, and the complex world of operatic ambition and intrigue. The story centers on two men—a Venetian noble and a maestro castrato—whose lives become unexpectedly intertwined as they navigate the opulent, cutthroat world of opera, where passion, envy, betrayal, and the pursuit of greatness come at a steep price.
Star-Studded Ensemble Cast
The film features an impressive array of talent, reflecting Tom Ford’s pulling power in Hollywood despite having directed only two films previously. The cast includes Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Mark Strong, Ciarán Hinds, George MacKay, Owen Cooper, Hunter Schafer, Thandiwe Newton, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Josephine Thiesen, Theodore Pellerin, Daryl McCormack, Cassian Bilton, Hauk Hannenmann, and Lux Pascal.
Notable collaborators include Aaron Taylor-Johnson and Colin Firth, both of whom have worked with Ford on his previous films. Firth starred in A Single Man (2009), for which he received an Academy Award nomination for Best Actor, while Taylor-Johnson appeared in Nocturnal Animals (2016), winning a Golden Globe for Best Supporting Actor for his role.
Production Details and Release
Currently in pre-production in London and Rome, principal photography is scheduled to begin in January 2026, with a planned release date set for fall 2026. Ford is directing, writing, and producing the film under his production company Fade to Black. In a distinctive move, Ford plans to finance the production independently and then shop it to distributors after completion rather than securing pre-sales.
Tom Ford’s Directorial Trajectory
Cry to Heaven represents Ford’s third feature film and his first directorial project in nearly a decade. His directorial debut, A Single Man (2009), earned critical acclaim and multiple award nominations, including an Academy Award nomination for Best Director. His second film, Nocturnal Animals (2016), premiered at the Venice International Film Festival where it won the Grand Jury Prize, and received nine BAFTA nominations alongside multiple Golden Globe nominations, including Best Director and Best Adapted Screenplay for Ford himself.
This latest project underscores Ford’s transition from the fashion world to filmmaking, particularly following his company’s sale to Estée Lauder for $2.8 billion in 2023, which provided him with the financial freedom to pursue cinema full-time.
