According to a description of the novel, Cry To Heaven follows “the exquisite and otherworldly society of the eighteenth-century castrati, the delicate and alluring male sopranos whose graceful bodies and glorious voices brought them the adulation of the royal courts and grand opera houses of Europe, men who lived as idols, concealing their pain as they were adored as angels, yet shunned as half-men.” (Think Ariana Grande in last year’s viral Saturday Night Live sketch.) Per the synopsis, “crowds of Venetians, Neopolitans, and Romans, noblemen and peasants, musicians, prelates, princes, saints, and intriguers swirl around” the castrati as Rice, author of Interview With The Vampire, “brings us into the sweep of eighteenth-century Italian life, into the decadence beneath the shimmering surface of Venice, the wild frivolity of Naples, and the magnetic terror of its shadow, Vesuvius.”
In addition to Adele—who demonstrated some acting chops in her own Saturday Night Live hosting gig (and one guest star appearance as herself on Ugly Betty in 2009)—the cast also includes recent Emmy winner Owen Cooper (Adolescence), Nicholas Hoult, Ciarán Hinds, George MacKay, Mark Strong, Paul Bettany, Daniel Quinn-Toye, Hunter Schafer, Josephine Thiesen, Thandiwe Newton, Theodore Pellerin, Daryl McCormack, Cassian Bilton, Hauk Hannemann, and Lux Pascal. Tom Ford reportedly penned the screenplay for the film and will self-finance the production. According to Deadline, shooting will begin in January with the goal of a late autumn 2026 release.
