Disney’s Live-Action ‘Nutcracker’ Lands a Prima Ballerina in Misty Copeland

The iconic holiday tale centers on a young girl whose Nutcracker comes to life on Christmas Eve to defeat the Evil Mouse King and whisk her away to the Land of candies. The ballet adaptation was written by Alexandre Dumas, and was called The Tale Of The Nutcracker.

The 33-year-old ballerina announced the news Wednesday by posting a photo of her script on Instagram.

The live-action film will combine Hoffman’s story with Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet, in a project directed by Lasse Hallström, who – fun fact – directed almost all of ABBA’s music videos. In June 2015, Copeland took on the lead roles in both ABT’s SWAN LAKE and ROMEO AND JULIET.

The Nutcracker and the Four Realms will follow a girl named Clara, who receives a doll in the form of a nutcracker from her godfather for Christmas and becomes part of a fantastic world.

Disney couldn’t have chosen anyone better than the first African American principal dancer with the American Ballet Theatre to hop on board with its latest Nutcracker project.

For the upcoming film, she reportedly will appear as the lead ballerina in the “Nutcracker’s” only dance scene.

Hoffman’s story was most famously adapted as a ballet with music by Pyotr Illyich Tchaikovsky. To report spam or abuse, click the “X” in the upper right corner of the comment box.