It’s quite a day for high profile Hollywood folk dropping out of projects. We just reported on Leslie Mann and Judd Apatow quitting R-rated comedy Bad Moms, now we’re hearing word that Oscar-winner Sofia Coppola has abandoned a passion project.
Deadline reports that the Lost in Translation writer-director has exited the forthcoming live action retelling of Hans Christian Anderson’s classic fairytale The Little Mermaid. Why? Well you’re don’t win any prizes for the guessing that good old, unspecified “creative differences” seem to be at play.
She was up for the project a few months back but it appears what she had in mind for the retelling and what the studio had in mind were ultimately too much of a different thing. The director will now focus on editing A Very Murray Christmas, her Netflix Christmas special starring Bill Murray.
The project has been in the works over at Universal and Working Title for a while now, with Joe Wright attached to direct at one point and with previous drafts of the script penned by Fifty Shades of Grey’s Kelly Marcel and Shame’s Abi Morgan; just what type of Little Mermaid movie are they going to be giving us this time?!
It’s disappointing news that Coppola has left the project behind, especially considering it would see her try something a bit different from her more adult-themed films that she’s done in the past. The project isn’t being left to drown and die without Coppola, however, as things are still moving ahead with the latest script being rewritten by Caroline Thompson (Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas).
Now all they need is a director to match Coppola’s talent and passion for the project. Hmm…
Sources: Deadline and AP (image)