Six months after Sofia Coppola’s decision to drop out of the Little Mermaid live action film, the director finally opened up about her departure. Coppola, who’s famous for helming Marie Antoinette and The Virgin Suicides, cited creative differences with the studio as her reasons.
As per Variety’s insiders, Coppola had a conflict with the studio because she wanted newcomer Maya Thurman-Hawke, Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman’s daughter, to play the lead role instead of Moretz. The studio, however, refused to comment although in an interview with The Wrap , Coppola confirmed that a conflict led to her exit.
“We didn’t agree creatively about how to do it, so I didn’t want to continue. As we were getting closer, it just wasn’t the right fit for what they needed for that project and the way I work. I decided to do something in a smaller scale, the way I like to work.”
Nonetheless, even if the Little Mermaid live-action film currently does not have a director attached to it, nothing can stop Moretz from being excited. The 18-year-old recently gushed about her highly-anticipated role in the Little Mermaid live action film. She is set to begin underwater training next month which she expects to be rigorous.
In an interview with E! Online during the KIIS Jingle Ball, the Carrie actress also talked about her feelings about playing Ariel.
“As of March I’ll be doing ‘The Little Mermaid’. I think it’s a plethora of things. I’m excited, I’m nervous. I’m just excited to show something that I’ve loved for such a long time and in a different modern light. I’m going to start training underwater in about a month, so we’ll see how I am on that. Underwater training? This is no joke!”
She likewise revealed that as opposed to what others were expecting, the Little Mermaid live-action film wouldn’t have a red-haired protagonist because they’d follow Danish writer Hans Christian Anderson’s version.
Little Mermaid fans seem to not like the creative team’s decision to have a blonde Ariel.
The fact that the little mermaid is going to be blonde really pisses me off. Ariel is literally the poster child for redheaded children!
— Ali Zatlin (@ali_ali_aliz) December 9, 2015
Was just informed that the new little mermaid will have blonde hair… Genuinely angry about this. ARIEL IS A RED HEAD.
— jack (@jmacNcheez) December 9, 2015
Unbelievable. In the Live version of the Little Mermaid, Ariel will be blonde. She’s been the hero of redheads since the dawn of time WHY
— Maeve Doherty (@maeverly26) December 9, 2015
I feel personally victimized that the live action remake of the little mermaid is going to feature a BLONDE Ariel?!
— l a u r e n (@mrslagoodwin) December 8, 2015
Screenwriter Richard Curtis is tasked to work on the film although no release date has been announced yet. ET Online reports that the Little Mermaid live action film is not being produced by Disney but by Universal Pictures. The movie might have drastic differences from the animated version many loved. Disney disregarded the tale’s original tragic ending and replaced it with one that’s aligned with the company’s famous “happily ever after” notion. When she appeared on Entertainment Tonight , Moretz said that “a modern, revisionist tale is kind of what we’re going after, and making it progressive for young women in this day and age.”
The word isn’t out yet as to who will play Moretz’s prince in Little Mermaid . Some of the guesses for Prince Eric’s role include Zac Efron, Ansel Elgort, Liam Hemsworth, Nicholas Hoult, Taylor Lautner, and even Harry Syles.
It is interesting to note as well that Little Mermaid isn’t the only aquatic film Moretz is a part of. The If I Stay actress is also set to star alongside Anne Hathaway, Keanu Reeves, and Daniel Radcliffe in The Modern Ocean , a film that is about “the competition for valuable shipping routes, the search for the hidden cache of priceless material and the powerful need for vengeance that will converge in a spectacular battle on the rolling decks of behemoth cargo ships.”
[Photo via Pascal Le Segretain/Getty Images]