Joe Wright
'The Little Mermaid' live action reboot has landed a screenwriter.
The fairytale favourite will be brought to life by newly-appointed scribe Kelly Marcel, who has also recently also been tasked with the far less family friendly project of adapting E.L. James' erotic novel '50 Shades Of Grey'.
Abi Morgan ('Shame') has already penned a first draft of the film's script, based on The Little Angel Theatre Company's puppet production of Hans Christian Andersen's classic fairytale, Deadline.com is reporting.
'The Little Mermaid', best known in the shape of its Walt Disney animated version, tells the story of mermaid Ariel who disobeys her father by striking a deal with sea witch Ursula to become human - in exchange for her beautiful voice. The mute beauty then attempts to win the heart of handsome Prince Eric before her villainous rival works her charms on him.
'Atonement' director Wright is teaming up with Working Title partners Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner to make the first ever English-language live action version of the story.
The film has been in the works since 2010, when Wright was working on action flick 'Hanna'. It is likely to be closer to Anderson's original 1837 plot, which was far more dark than Disney's 1989 musical version.