Jack Whitehall has landed a lead role in 'The Nutcracker and the Four Realms'.

Jack Whitehall

Jack Whitehall

The 29-year-old comedian will appear as Harlequin alongside Keira Knightley, Morgan Freeman and Dame Helen Mirren in the Disney live-action adaptation of ballet classic 'The Nutcracker and the Mouse King'.

He said: "I'm doing a Disney film where I play something else.

"It comes out next year and it's called The Nutcracker. It's very exciting."

Whitehall starred alongside Eva Longoria in TV show 'Decline and Fall' earlier this year and has appeared on the big screen in 'The Bad Education Movie', which he also co-wrote, but has admitted he wants more of a challenge.

He added to The Sun newspaper: "I'd like to do more challenging stuff. You don't ever want to be typecast.

"I just played Marc Bolan in a thing for Sky, which was a very different role for me."

'The Nutcracker and the Four Realms' tells the story of a young girl called Clara - played by Mackenzie Foy - who is given a nutcracker doll on Christmas Eve, only to discover she has been thrown into a magical world filled with gingerbread men.

Knightley will play the Sugar Plum Fairy, Freeman has been cast as Drosselmeyer and Mirren is Mother Ginger in the forthcoming film, which is scheduled for a November 2018 release.

Last year, comedienne Miranda Hart landed the role of fairy Dew Drop in the Disney movie.

She tweeted: "I won't lie, I am very excited to be playing a fairy. (Natural casting) (sic)"

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