Live action fairy tales are an in thing these days, what with Disney starting the trend with Tim Burton's "Alice in Wonderland" starring Johnny Depp and Anne Hathaway, followed by "Maleficent" starring Angelina Jolie.
They followed it this year with Kenneth Branagh's "Cinderella" starring Lily James and Richard Madden, and now "Beauty and the Beast" is in the works with a star-studded cast led by Emma Watson as Belle and Dan Stevens as Beast.
Universal Pictures wants to bank in on this trend as well and create their own live action fairy tale, and they have decided that they want to pursue Hans Christian Andersen's "The Little Mermaid."
According to Variety, Working Title and Universal Pictures will produce while Richard Curtis will direct.
They have chosen "If I Stay" star Chloe Grace Moretz to star as the title character, although little else is known about their film.
Sofia Coppola was initially attached to direct the film, but she encountered creative differences with the studio and they therefore had to find another director before moving forward.
Many suspect that Universal's "The Little Mermaid" will take a departure from Disney's animated film, which featured Ariel happily singing with the fishes before falling in love with Prince Eric, therefore trading her fish tail for human legs after striking up a deal with Ursula. While Disney found a happy ending for Ariel in the animated film, Anderson's 1837 fairy tale is quite different.
In Anderson's tale, Ariel lives with her father, grandmother, and five sisters, and when they come of age, they are allowed to swim to the surface of the water and witness the world above. Each sister views something different, and when it was finally Ariel's turn, she encounters a shipwreck and she falls in love with a handsome prince whom she saves.
Here, she strikes a deal with the Sea Witch, who gives her a potion that will give her legs in exchange for her tongue. To make matters worse, every time she takes a step, she will feel like she's walking on sharp swords. She will never be able to return to the sea as well, and she must get true love's kiss otherwise she will turn into sea foam.
When she gets up, the handsome prince finds her amusing especially when she dances, and she does so even though it causes her much pain. In the end, the prince marries another, and Ariel is forced to kill him with an enchanted blade so that she can resume her former life. However, Ariel cannot bear to kill the prince and meets a sad end.
