New Line Cinema has announced that it’s making a biopic about ballerina Misty Copeland, 31, who fought the odds and made history to become only the second African-American female soloist to dance with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre.
According to Deadline, the film will be based on Copeland’s memoir, Life in Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina. The biopic will focus on her life since the age of 13, when she started ballet, to her late teens.
Copeland’s life has been filled with quite a few obstacles. When she was discovered, she was living in a hotel with her mother and five siblings. But even though she started ballet late in life, she proved to have natural talent. Even after Copeland found her calling, however, her life didn’t get easier. She was involved in a bitter custody battle between her mother and the woman who took her under her wing.
Copeland is still making strides in ballet. Next month she will become the first African-American ballerina to dance the lead in ABT’s Swan Lake. No release date has been set for the movie.