One day, someone will finally crack and make a documentary called Creative Differences where they sit directors and executives down, inject them with truth serum and have them explain exactly what the term actual means. The term is being bandied about again as Sofia Coppola has dropped out of making **The Little Mermaid.
It’s the latest director departure for the Universal and Working Title project, which has already seen Pan man Joe Wright considering the job and then move on. Coppola was reported as interested in March, but has decided that her vision didn’t match the studio’s ideas.
Undaunted, Working Title’s Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner are pushing on with the idea, with Caroline Thompson rewriting the script based on the classic Hans Christian Andersen tale – brought to memorable, Oscar-winning animated life in 1989 by Disney – in which a young mermaid falls in love with a human prince and makes a tragic deal to live on land.
Coppola, meanwhile, will focus on editing her current project, a Christmas special featuring Lost In Translation’s Bill Murray for Netflix. Yes, he’s finally found a party even he can’t crash – if only because he’s hosting.