The cast of Walt Disney Pictures‘ upcoming Nutcracker movie continues to grow today as Variety brings word that two-time Academy Award nominee Keira Knightley is set to take on the role of the Sugar Plum Fairy. She joins a Nutcracker movie cast that also includes Mackenzie Foy as Clara in the film, Morgan Freeman as Drosselmeyer and American Ballet Theatre dancer Misty Copeland as the lead ballerina role for the film’s dance sequences.
Titled The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, the film hails from director Lasse Hallstrom (My Life as a Dog, The Cider House Rules) and screenwriter Ashleigh Powell.
Most famously adapted as a ballet by Tchaikovsky in the late 19th century, the Nutcracker tale originated as a short story titled “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffmann in 1816. In it, a young girl’s dolls come to life on Christmas Eve alongside a noble nutcracker, who protects her from a villainous army of mice. There is no word on how much fidelity this new take will have to the original source material, although Powell reportedly spent two solid years developing the project.
Mark Gordon is producing the live-action The Nutcracker movie, with Lindy Goldstein executive producing.
Technically, this new Nutcracker movie marks another live-action remake of a classic Disney animation, as a famous segment in 1940’s Fantasia was built around the ballet. More recent live-action attempts on adapting the story include George Balanchine’s 1993 The Nutcracker, featuring Macaulay Culkin, and 2009’s Nutcracker in 3D starring Elle Fanning, Nathan Lane and John Turturro.
Keira Knightley can next be seen in David Frankel’s Collateral Beauty, starring opposite Will Smith and Edward Norton. Look for it to hit the big screen December 16.
