The Misty Copeland biopic set at New Line has a director. Nzingha Stewart will helm the pic, which is based on Copeland’s memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina.

Copeland is a modern history-maker, becoming the first Black woman to be promoted to principal dancer in the American Ballet Theatre.

According to The Hollywood Reporter, which broke the news, “The movie will chronicle Copeland’s rise from her poor and tumultuous beginnings – she only began ballet at the late age of 13 and found herself in the middle of a custodial struggle between her mother and the ballet teachers who were her legal guardians at the time – to becoming a cross-over star that has written books, appeared in movies and commercials, and a speaker.”

“As an African American woman, I know firsthand that when Misty Copeland leaps, we all soar. As a filmmaker, I am thrilled to bring this hopeful, triumphant, and cinematic story to the big screen,” Stewart said.

Stewart is an accomplished, in-demand television director, helming episodes of Pretty Little Liars, Grey’s Anatomy, How to Get Away with Murder and more. She was supposed to direct and write the For Colored Girls adaptation before Tyler Perry took over. She was credited as an executive producer on the film, and she’s also helming the upcoming Netflix feature Tall Girl. 

When it was first set up at New Line, Gregory Allen Howard was tapped to write the feature. It is unknown if he is still attached to the project.

 

Photo: by Aaron J. Thornton/FilmMagic, Greg Doherty/Getty Images