With a cast including Ukrainian star dancer Sergei Polunin, The White Crow focusses on Nureyev’s defection to the US.

British actor Ralph Fiennes is to direct a new biopic about ballet superstar Rudolf Nureyev called The White Crow – and among the featured cast is Ukrainian dancer Sergei Polunin.

Fiennes – known for his roles in films such as Schindler’s List, The English Patient and The Grand Budapest Hotel, as well as his many Shakespearean stage performances – is collaborating with British playwright David Hare, who has previously received Academy Award nominations for his screenplays for The Hours and The Reader.

^{Fiennes on set for his first film, Coriolanus}

Hare’s screenplay for The White Crow is based on Julie Kavanagh’s 2007 biography of Nureyev, the legendary Russian ballet dancer who defected to the US in 1961. After performing with many of the world’s top ballet companies, Nureyev was Director of the Paris Opera Ballet from 1983 to 1989, and its chief choreographer until 1992.

The White Crow, which is being developed by BBC Films, will star Russian dancer Oleg Ivenko as Nureyev. In a statement, the film company said that Hare’s script “delivers...