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Keira Knightley has landed a major Disney role
Keira Knightley has an exciting new role in the pipeline. The actress is set to play the Sugar Plum Fairy in the Disney remake of The Nutcracker.
It will be a live-action film, titled The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, and based on E.T.A. Hoffmann's 1816 story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.
According to Variety, Keira will be joined by Mackenzie Foy, who is on board to play protagonist Clara, while ballerina Misty Copeland and veteran actor Morgan Freeman are also rumoured to be cast members.
Keira Knightley is set to star in The Nutcracker
The new film will be directed by Lasse Hallstrom, the Swedish mastermind behind Chocolat, What's Eating Gilbert Grape and The Hundred-Foot Journey.
While Keira's role, the Sugar Plum Fairy, did not feature in E.T.A. Hoffmann's original novella, the character was introduced in Tchaikovsky's 1892 ballet.
Keira has a long history working with Disney, which started when she was just a teenager, playing Elizabeth Swann in the Pirates of the Caribbean film series.
The 31-year-old actress from Teddington has since gone on to star in period dramas including Pride & Prejudice, The Duchess, Anna Karenina and A Dangerous Method.
Mackenzie Foy will play female protagonist Clara
Last year she made her debut on Broadway, playing the title role in Helen Edmundson's adaptation of Émile Zola's Thérèse Raquin.
Earlier this year director John Carney issued a public apology to the actress, who he worked with in 2013's Begin Again. John likened Keira to a supermodel and said that one thing he took away from the experience was that he would "never make a film with supermodels again".
However the Northern Irish director, who focuses on low-budget indie films, apologised for his "petty, mean and hurtful comments".
