Keira Knightley to play Sugar Plum Fairy in Disney's 'Nutcracker'

Keira Knightley is set to play the Sugar Plum Fairy in Disney’s live-action take on The Nutcracker, Mashable has confirmed.

Mackenzie Foy, Misty Copeland and Morgan Freeman will co-star in The Nutcracker and the Four Realms, which is based on E.T.A. Hoffmann’s 1816 story The Nutcracker and the Mouse King.

Lasse Hallström is directing the movie, which will star Interstellar actress Foy as Clara, the young girl whose Christmas toys -- including a Nutcracker doll -- come to life and battle the evil Mouse King.

Variety broke the news that Knightley will play the Sugar Plum Fairy, the ruler of the Land of Sweets who welcomes Clara and the Nutcracker Prince to her kingdom, where she performs the famed "Dance of the Sugar Plum Fairy."

Knightley is no stranger to the Disney lot, having co-starred in its Pirates of the Caribbean franchise. She recently appeared in Everest and will soon be seen alongside Will Smith and Kate Winslet in Collateral Beauty, which hits theaters in December.

Disney has been ramping up its development efforts of late, hiring Lin-Manuel Miranda to co-write the music for a live-action take on The Little Mermaid, and tapping Max Winkler and Max Spicer to write a female-led reboot of the 1991 action-adventure movie The Rocketeer.