Madonna to direct film on dancer Michaela DePrince’s life

LOS ANGELES – Madonna is pirouetting back into the director’s chair.

MGM Motion Picture Group president Jonathan Glickman says Tuesday that the pop music icon will direct a film based on ballet dancer Michaela DePrince’s memoir “Taking Flight: From War Orphan to Star Ballerina.”

DePrince overcame a childhood in war-stricken Sierra Leone to become a world class ballerina. She made her debut at age 17 in South Africa’s Joburg Ballet and also appeared in Beyonce’s “Lemonade.”

Madonna has directed two previous features: The 2008 comedy “Filth and Wisdom” and the Wallis Simpson drama “W.E.” She is also working on a film adaptation of the novel “The Impossible Lives of Greta Wells.”

No cast or release date is set for “Taking Flight,” but “Fresh Off the Boat” writer Camilla Blackett will pen the screenplay.