Disney Making Live-Action ‘Nutcracker’ With ‘Chocolat’ Director Lasse Hallström
Disney is looking to make yet another live-action fairy tale — but this one’s a little different from most of their others, in that it’s not a remake of an existing Disney animated classic. The studio has setLasse Hallström(Chocolat) to directThe Nutcracker and the Four Realms, based on the classic ballet byPyotor Ilyich Tchaikovskyand theE.T.A. Hoffmannstory that inspired it.
Hallström will directThe Nutcracker and the Four Realmsfrom a script byBlack List writerAshleigh Powell, as reported byTHR. Powell has quietly been working on the script with Disney for the past two years.Mark Gordon(Grey’s Anatomy) will produce whileLindy Goldsteinserves as executive producer.
The classicNutcrackerstory follows a girl named Clara. On Christmas Eve, she and her family receive a bounty of gifts from their toymaker godfather, including a wooden nutcracker shaped like a man. When Clara goes to check on her new toy later that night, the clock strikes twelve. Suddenly the nutcracker grows to life size, and Clara finds herself in the middle of a battle between gingerbread men and mice.
Hallström is coming off ofThe Hundred-Foot Journeyand the upcomingA Dog’s Purpose. He’s a two-time Best Director Oscar nominee, forThe Cider House RulesandMy Life as a Dog, and his other credits includeChocolatandWhat’s Eating Gilbert Grape(the latter of which earned Leonardo DiCaprio his first Oscar nomination, kicking off a 22-year quest for a little gold man that culminated in his recent win forThe Revenant).
Since its initial debut in 1892,The Nutcrackerhas become a holiday season staple performed by major professional dance companies and local amateur troops alike. It’s been adapted for screen a handful of times before, with varying degrees of success. Perhaps the most recent major movie version is the 2009 live-action movie starring Elle Fanning. It achieved the dubious distinction ofa perfect 0% on Rotten Tomatoes, and became one of the biggest box office bombs of that year.
In other words, there’s room in the cinematic canon for a live-actionNutcrackermovie worth revisiting each winter. And in the past few years, we’ve seen attempts to get one off the ground. New Line had one in the works with Adam Shankman, and Universal was working on one with Chernin Entertainment. Neither one has panned out.
Hopefully Disney, which has had an excellent track record with its recent run of live-action fairy tales, will have better luck. It’s almost surprising to realize the studio hasn’t already made a full-fledged feature based on this very beloved fantasy, although the animation division did use some of Tchaikovsky’s score for one of itsFantasia1940 segments.
