Sofia Coppola to helm live-action film 'Little Mermaid'

'Bling Ring' helmer Sofia Coppola is in negotiations to serve as the director of 'Little Mermaid'.
A new live-action take on the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale is in development at Universal Pictures in conjunction with Working Title Films, reported Ace Showbiz.
Caroline Thompson ('Edward Scissorhands') is re-writing the script which will see a mermaid who longs to live on land after falling in love with a human.
A rival project is allegedly in the works at Sony. It's a movie based on Carolyn Turgeon's novel 'Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale', a dark retelling of the Andersen story.

Coppola was highly praised for directing 2003's 'Lost in Translation'. She received an Oscar for best original screenplay and was nominated for best director at the same awards show.
'The Little Mermaid' will be her first project since helming 2013's 'The Bling Ring' which was based on a true story of a group of young women who broke into a number of celebrities' houses in Hollywood.
Before Coppola, Joe Wright was attached to helm 'The Little Mermaid'. Wright has now been signed on to direct Warner Bros' 'Pan (2015)' which focuses on the origin story of Peter Pan.