Wright to remake The Little Mermaid

Joe Wright, director of The Soloist, is working on a live-action version of Hans Christian Andersen’s fairytale The Little Mermaid, the story about trans species love between a mute mermaid with unrealistic measurements and a sailor who cannot swim.

Abi Morgan (who wrote Brick Lane) penned the screenplay, which was inspired by The Little Angel Theatre Company’s puppet production of the story.

The feature will be shot in live-action, a decision that was probably made based on the expected success of the live action/animated film, The Smurfs.

Does this mean the rest of Hans Christian Andersen’s stories will be up for grabs soon? Possibly and hopefully! Up until now, The Princess and the Pea, The Emperor’s New Clothes and The Ugly Ducking have all taken backseats to more recently written tales, and so we’ve forgotten about the more antiquated ones. But just as we’ve now learned, there are rare instances when someone’s brave enough to take something old and make it new again.

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