Adele makes surprise jump into acting as she joins Tom Ford’s star-packed new film

Most celebrities switch things up with a new album or a bold hair colour, but Adele? She’s casually entering Hollywood and the cybercitizen is already treating it like the crossover event of the decade.

Singer-songwriter Adele is officially heading to the big screen, marking her acting debut in Cry To Heaven, a new film helmed by American designer-turned-director Tom Ford and due for release at the end of 2026.

The update was first reported by Deadline on Nov 12.

The 37-year-old will appear alongside a heavyweight cast that includes Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, Mark Strong, Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Owen Cooper and Thandiwe Newton.

Deadline also revealed that Ford, 64, wrote the screenplay himself and will produce the film under his company Fade To Black.

Set in 18th-century Italy, Cry To Heaven follows the intertwined lives of a Venetian aristocrat and a castrato maestro from Calabria as they navigate the intense world of opera.

The project is now in pre-production across London and Rome, with filming slated to begin in January 2026.

The movie is adapted from the 1982 novel Cry To Heaven by American author Anne Rice, who died in 2021 at 80.

Rice is best known for The Vampire Chronicles, which included the 1976 novel Interview With The Vampire, later turned into a 1994 blockbuster starring Tom Cruise and Brad Pitt.

Adele, born Adele Adkins, is one of the world’s top-selling recording artistes, known for hits like Rolling In The Deep (2010), Skyfall (2012) and Hello (2015).

The Grammy and Oscar winner previously shared in 2024 that she would be taking an extended break from music following the end of her Las Vegas residency in November that year.

For Ford, this marks his return behind the camera after directing A Single Man (2009) and Nocturnal Animals (2016).

Deadline stated that he had been eyeing Cry To Heaven as his next film since 2024 but waited until the right ensemble was secured.

The movie also reunites him with Firth and Hoult, who appeared in A Single Man and Taylor-Johnson, who starred in Nocturnal Animals.

With Adele stepping into her first-ever film role and Ford assembling a powerhouse cast, Cry To Heaven is already shaping up to be one of 2026’s most talked-about releases.