Rumors started swirling about Tom Ford’s next cinematic project a few months ago, when it was reported that he was casting for an adaptation of Anne Rice’s 18th-century-Italy-set novel Cry to Heaven—a story of vengeance, passion, and identity in the opera world.
It’s been almost a decade since the designer-turned-director’s last movie. “I want to spend the next 20 years of my life making films,” Ford told GQ in 2023. “And the clock is ticking. And so it was time to say goodbye to fashion. Fashion is a younger man’s game.” Following his films A Single Man (2009) and Nocturnal Animals (2016), this will be his first big-screen outing fully divested from his label and design career.
And now, with the announcement of its star-studded cast, excitement for Cry to Heaven is really ramping up. Here’s everything we know so far.
What is Cry to Heaven about?
The third novel from Anne Rice (most famous for Interview with the Vampire) was first published in 1982 and takes us deep into the opulent, sensual world of opera in 18th-century Venice and Naples, exploring one of its most brutal practices: the castration of male singers (known as castrati) to preserve their high soprano voices.
The story follows two men: a Venetian nobleman named Tonio Treschi, and Guido Maffeo, a boy from Calabria who becomes a castrato and a celebrated singer. Following the death of his father, the teenage Tonio is castrated by his brother Carlo in an attempt to dominate and control the family line. Tonio and Guido later meet in Venice, where Guido—who has lost his own voice—teaches him to sing.
Their trajectories converge in a story marked by glamour and eroticism, tragedy, betrayal, ambition, and a sublime passion for music—so far, so Tom Ford.
Who has been cast in Cry to Heaven?
Well, it’s certainly starry. The film will feature Nicholas Hoult, Aaron Taylor-Johnson, singer Adele, Ciarán Hinds, George MacKay, Mark Strong (currently in Oedipus on Broadway), Colin Firth, Paul Bettany, Owen Cooper, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Hunter Schafer, Josephine Thiesen, Thandiwe Newton, Théodore Pellerin, Daryl McCormack, Cassian Bilton, Hauk Hannemann, and Lux Pascal.
This marks British pop star Adele’s acting debut, after announcing that she plans to temporarily step away from music following the end of her Las Vegas residency. Adolescence star Owen Cooper also takes up his biggest role to date, following the juggernaut one-shot British television show in which he starred as a troubled young man accused of his classmate’s murder.
Cry to Heaven will see Ford work once again with Taylor-Johnson, who starred in Nocturnal Animals, as well as Firth, who was celebrated for his role in A Single Man. Taylor-Johnson picked up a Golden Globe for his part, while Firth won big at the Venice Film Festival.
When will Cry to Heaven be released?
According to Deadline, Ford has been pushing to make Cry to Heaven his next film since last year, considering finance options and start dates before he decided to self-finance and pursue shooting with his company, Fade To Black Productions.
Pre-production is taking place in Rome and London now, with principal photography reportedly kicking off in January 2026. It’s hoped, then, that we’ll have a late fall 2026 release.
What can we expect from Cry to Heaven?
If Nocturnal Animals, A Single Man, and all of Tom Ford’s fashion oeuvre are anything to go by, Cry to Heaven will be a decadent and sumptuous visual feast: Baroque gowns, Venetian palazzos, richly textured interiors, and breathtaking scenes of song on gilded altars. Music, of course, will also play a central role in the narrative, and how Ford approaches it—whether he will use original compositions, and how he’ll handle the voices of the castrati—will be interesting. This will be one for stylish storytelling and operatic high stakes. Tranquillo, per favore.
