Sofia Coppola No Longer Directing The Little Mermaid Live-Action Movie

Sofia Coppola is no longer attached to direct Universal's live-action take on The Little Mermaid, according to Deadline.

Coppola exited the project due to "creative differences." Not much of a surprise as Coppola has never ventured in the land of a big studio picture before. The Academy Award nominated director seems to enjoy independent films, like Lost In Translation.

Universal is still moving forward with the project. They have Caroline Thompson working on a rewrite of the script, which was previously worked on by Kelly Marcel and Abi Morgan.

This version of The Little Mermaid was aid to be closer to Hans Christian Anderson's 1837 fairy tale, which the popular Disney animated film of the same name was only loosely-based. In both tales the mermaid gives up her singing voice to a sea witch in exchange for a human form so that she can win over her Prince. The original fable has a much darker conclusion.