E.T.W Hoffman’s classic 1816 tale, The Nutcracker and the Mouse King, has got very popular all of a sudden. A few weeks ago it was rumoured Robert Zemeckis was thinking about turning the story – best known from Tchaikovsky’s 1892 ballet version – into one of his motion capture CG movies. Now comes news that New Line has picked up a new pitch based on the story.
Variety reports that they’ve bought Darren Lemke’s idea for a Nutcracker movie, which re-imagines The Nutcracker as an action adventure. It’s not Lemke’s first flirtation with turning classic stories into modern movies, as he was also the original writer of Jack the Giant Killer, which Bryan Singer is slated to directed, as well a working on Shrek Forever After.
Although it’s not known exactly what Lemke’s ptich will do to Hoffman’s story, the original is about a young girl whose favourite toy, a Nutcracker in the shape of a soldier, comes to life. He then takes on the mouse king and transports the girl to the kingdom of dolls. While Tchaikovsky told a very nice version of the story, Hoffman’s original take was rather darker and offers plenty of scope for a weird and wonderful movie about a girl coming of age and moving from an interest in toys to an interest in men.
It seems with the likes of Nutcracker and Jack the Giant Killer, that Hollywood is betting that Tim Burton’s Alice In Wonderland will relight audience interest in new takes on classic stories, so expect more to be announced soon.