Sofia Coppola To Direct 'The Little Mermaid'?

Ooh yes please! Ms. Coppola is a truly interesting filmmaker (and not afraid to go big when it suits - aka Marie Antoinette! Amazing) and I'd be very curious to see what she would do with the fairy tale. In fact, it could be her very experience of directing something as lavish as Marie Antoinette (lots of dresses, heightened style sense) is exactly the reason Universal wants her to helm the project (the previous director attached was Joe Wright).

Another interesting thing is that, if this goes forward, it will be the first time Ms. Coppola has directed someone else's script.

Last we heard (Dec 2013), Ms. Coppola had just bought the rights to Alysia Abbott’s Fairyland: A Memoir of My Father (which is not quite the fairy land most of us immediately think of by the way) with the intent of co-writing, producing and directing a movie based on it with her brother Roman. Not sure what the status of this project is but it's unlikely it will have an impact on Mermaid with Universal holding the pocket book.

From Variety:

Sofia Coppola is in negotiations to direct "The Little Mermaid" for Working Title and Universal Pictures. 

Caroline Thompson will rewrite the script with previous drafts penned by Kelly Marcel and Abi Morgan. 

Not much is known about how this take will compare to previous versions of the Hans Christian Andersen novel, which followed a mermaid who wished to become human after falling in love with a man she saved from drowning.

Never heard of Caroline Thompson? Does Edward Scissorhands ring a bell? I'm taking this as a great sign.

Movieweb currently shows a release date of 2016 and already has Ms. Coppola credited as director (papers aren't quite finalized yet, as I understand it, but things are looking good for it).

In case you didn't already know, Emma Watson will NOT be The Little Mermaid, or a live-action Ariel at any point in the future at this time. Her next fairy tale is Guillermo del Toro's Beauty and the Beast (which, I believe has been put on hold briefly, yet again, although they're still saying it will be filmed this year...)

In the meantime, despite the news being less than a day old (at this writing) the alternate 'dream-casting' has already begun on the Hollywood and gossip blogs... If you like that sort of thing, I suggest google - which already has plenty to offer you. Enjoy.

Note: A special thank you and shout out to fairy tale friend and very talented filmmaker, Lisa Stock of InByTheEye who kept me in the loop on this during a busy week!

Lisa has just made her most recent short film, Hell, available for everyone to see online. It's an amazing collaborative effort, created, helmed and directed by Lisa with women filmmakers from all over the globe, each giving their different take on a different circle of Hell. The themes of this particular myth share much with fairy tale so if you haven't already, go take a look.

And keep your eyes peeled for news on her current project Titania. It's already amazing!