Walt Disney Pictures has tapped rising star Mackenzie Foy to play Clara in its latest retelling of “The Nutcracker.”
Foy, who broke out as Matthew McConaughey’s daughter in Christopher Nolan’s “Interstellar,” joins Misty Copeland who was recently announced as the lead ballerina in the films sole dance number.
The live action project is titled “The Nutcracker and the Four Realms.” It is based on the 1816 story “The Nutcracker and the Mouse King” by E.T.A. Hoffmann in which a Clara (Foy) is charged by her parents with taking care of a Christmas toy Nutcracker doll which comes to life and defeats an evil Mouse King with seven heads.
Russian composer Pyotr Ilyich Tchaikovsky and choreographers Marius Petipa and Lev Ivanov turned an Alexandre Dumas adaptation of the story into the ballet “The Nutcracker” in 1892.
For the upcoming film, Lasse Hallström came on board in March to direct from Ashleigh Powell’s script.
Popular on Variety
Mark Gordon is producing. Lindy Goldstein is executive producing.
Sam Dickerman and Allison Erlikhman are overseeing the project for Disney. Sara Smith is overseeing for The Mark Gordon Company.
Foy’s past credits included “The Twilight Saga: Breaking Dawn” parts 1 and 2 but it was her role in “Interstellar” that earned her a nomination from the Critics Choice awards. She recently voiced the little girl who befriends an eccentric neighbor (voiced by Jeff Bridges) in the animated film “The Little Prince.”
Foy is repped by Lighthouse Management & Media, Coast to Coast Talent Group and Myman Greenspan Fineman Fox Rosenberg & Light LLP.
