Exclusive: New Line Cinema has optioned the inspirational true story of ballet prodigy Misty Copeland, who fought against the odds to become the only the second African-American female soloist to dance with the prestigious American Ballet Theatre. Offspring Entertainment’s Adam Shankman and Jennifer Gibgot alongside Phil Sandhaus will produce the feature film adapted from Copeland’s bestselling memoir Life In Motion: An Unlikely Ballerina, which Stephanie Allain and Lenore Kletter are set to script.

In what’s shaping up to be The Blind Side set in the dance world, the film will chronicle Copeland’s striking rise to dance stardom. The late bloomer began training in ballet at age 13 while living in a welfare motel with her mother and siblings, learning so quickly she was dancing en pointe within months. She went from lessons at the local Boys & Girls Club to living part-time with a sponsor family while attending dance school.