Get out your hankies.
Tom Ford, the designer, is directing his third film. Adele will have a supporting role and there are a dozen famous names including Nicholas Hoult and Aaron Taylor Johnson.
Ford is adapting Anne Rice’s 1982 novel called “Cry to Heaven.” No vampires are involved. “Cry to Heaven” takes place in 17th century Venice and it’s about opera. To cite Wikipedia: “it follows the paths of two unlikely collaborators: a Venetian noble and a maestro castrato from Calabria, both trying to succeed in the world of the opera.”
A young boy who is an opera star named Guido is castrated at age 6, but loses his voice at 18 anyway. Meantime, another boy is castrated and becomes a big star. The two eventually become student and teacher. There’s a lot of very high high note singing.
Who does Adele play? Maybe a singing teacher, opera star, or a mother. But the main roles are Hoult and Taylor Johnson, with other supporting turns from Ciarán Hinds, George MacKay, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Owen Cooper, and Thaniwe Newton.
It’s an interesting choice for Ford, who had a great success with the restrained “A Single Man” — which starred Firth and Hoult — and followed it up with the wilder “Nocturnal Animals” in 2016.
The only time I can remember a castrati boy featured in a film was Merchant-Ivory’s excellent “A Soldier’s Daughter Never Cries.” I have a clear memory of a very young Anthony Roth Costanzo singing at the high pitched premiere party. He was nominated for a Spirit Award. He’s now General Director & President of Opera Philadelphia. According to his bio, he also operatically launched the purple M&M in a national commercial.
Adele will not be able to cuss in this film, but obviously she’ll sing and it will be a big deal. The movie is set for a year from now, which will mark five years since her last album. Love Adele, but Mariah Carey would have had the better range.
Stay tuned…
