Trans ally Sabrina Carpenter to take the lead in Alice in Wonderland-inspired movie musical

Sabrina Carpenter is set to head up a movie musical based around the classic tale of Alice in Wonderland.

Inspired by Lewis Carroll’s Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland, the film will star the “Tears” singer in her first major studio feature.

The singer has not publicly commented on the news herself at the time of writing.

Variety reports that the film will be written and directed by Lorene Scafaria. The director, known for her work in I Love LA and Succession, as well as Hustlers, came on board after Carpenter approached Universal about the project last year.

Carpenter is also reported to be producing the project alongside Marc Platt, who’s worked on Wicked, Legally Blonde, and Cruella among many other feature films. Leslie Morgenstein and Elysa Koplovitz Dutton are also producing for Alloy Entertainment.

The film would be far from Carpenter’s first acting role. As an actress she’s appeared in Work It, Tall Girl, and Clouds. She has also had roles in TV shows like the Disney Channel series Girl Meets World.

The project is the first announcement from Carpenter after the “Manchild” singer scored six Grammy nominations for her album, Man’s Best Friend. Among the nominations are album of the year, record of the year and song of the year.

Man’s Best Friend is Carpenter’s seventh studio album and follows on from the wildly successful Short n’ Sweet, released in 2024.

Since reaching the upper echelons of musical stardom last year, Carpenter has been a visible and vocal ally of the LGBTQ+ community.

She’s used her tours to raise money for LGBTQ+ causes, including the Transgender Law Centre. During her performance at the MTV Video Music Awards in September this year, the “Espresso” hitmaker was surrounded by queer folk and stars of RuPaul’s Drag Race, plus a range of banners carrying slogans including “Protect Trans Rights”.

In August, she unveiled the music video for her disco-tinged single “Tears”, which featured gay actor Colman Domingo in drag, and Carpenter dancing with a group of queer outsiders.

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