With the Brothers Grimm’s back catalogue already being raided for fairy tales that film studios could convert into new movies, it was only a matter of time before other writers saw their works being targeted. So it comes as little surprise to hear that Sony is planning to put Hans Christian Andersen’s **The Little Mermaid **back on the big screen.
But the company – and Country Strong director writer/director Shana Feste, who will take on the same duties here – are not going directly back to Andersen’s story. Instead, this new, darker film will draw its inspiration from Carolyn Turgeon’s book Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale.
And it definitely sounds far removed from the sweet version so memorably crafted by Disney. In this tale, we focus on a princess whose kingdom is slowly being destroyed by a mortal enemy. In an attempt to make peace, she heads out on a risky journey to marry the prince of the enemy kingdom, only to discover that a beautiful mermaid has fallen for her intended groom and given up everything in order to be with him. We predict a riot. Or, more likely a fight.
Turgeon has a couple of these fairytale re-workings in her library – in addition to Mermaid, she’s also written Godmother: The Secret Cinderella Story, which we bet someone somewhere already has in development…