While Disney seems to be mostly focused on their massive franchises like Marvel and Star Wars, the studio is still making the sorts of light-hearted family movies that helped make their name. One of those films that the studio is currently planning is a film called Nicole, about the daughter of Santa Claus. We first heard about the film several months ago when Disney began to eye one of the hottest actresses in Hollywood for the lead. Now, it looks like the movie is putting together an impressive cast all around.
The title role of Nicole is going to Anna Kendrick who will play the daughter of Santa Claus, who takes over the family business after her brother apparently gets cold feet over taking on the position. Kendrick has previously worked with Disney once before when she played Cinderella in the film adaptation of the musical Into the Woods. Kendrick's comedy skills are well known which makes her a perfect fit for a film like this. While she tends to make more adult comedies, she's a generally well-regarded actress with broad appeal to audiences so we can imagine that this movie already has massive potential.
The role of the aforementioned son of Santa Claus, and brother to title character Nicole, will be played by Bill Hader. Hader also has previous Disney experience as the voice of Fear in Inside Out as well as voicing a character in the Steven Spielberg directed, The BFG and Finding Dory. His voice was most recently heard as that of Alpha 5 in the big screen Power Rangers movie. He'll next be seen at the title character in the upcoming HBO series Barry and he still pops into Saturday Night Live now and then via the Weekend Update limited series.
The newest addition to the Nicole cast appears to by Billy Eichner who The Wrap is reporting is currently in talks to join the production. There's no mention of what character Eichner would play, so at this point, that's being left to our imagination. This is the second Disney film that Billy Eichner has been attached to in recent months, as he will also voice the role of Timon in Jon Favreau's upcoming remake of The Lion King. He can currently be seen on American Horror Story: Cult, and Netflix's recent series Friends from College.
The cast of Nicole certainly seems to be shaping up into something solid. The movie is expected to go into production later this year with a release date of November 8, 2019 currently set.
