It's official, another Disney classic will be re-imagined and recreated in live action form. Actress Chloe Grace Moretz has signed on to star in Universal's version of The Little Mermaid. The storyline from the forthcoming film might look a little different than what you remember seeing in the 1989 Disney classic, because it will follow Hans Christian Andersen's fairy tale, on which both movies are based.
On Friday (Nov. 6), the If I Stay star took to her Instagram and Twitter to confirm her collaboration with film production companies Working Title and Universal to bring a live action version of The Little Mermaid to life.
According to Variety, Richard Curtis is expected to write the screenplay for the film, while Tim Bevan and Eric Fellner will produce it. The project is still in need of a director after Sophia Coppola stepped down from role due to creative differences.
The Danish writer's fairy tale follows a mermaid with a strong desire to become human after she falls in love with a man she saved from drowning. So let's see just how much the versions differ:
The animated movie most Disney fans know and follow surrounded a 16-year-old mermaid named Ariel who has an infatuation with life outside of the sea. One day she comes across a large ship filled with humans, including the one she falls in love with a first sight, Prince Eric. The ship gets destroyed in a horrible storm and Prince Eric almost drowns, but Ariel saves him in and sings him to him with her angelic voice until he regains consciousness.
To hide her identity as a mermaid, Ariel quickly slips away before he has a clear vision of the girl who saved him. Prince Eric vows to marry the mysterious girl who sang to him. Ariel ultimately makes a deal with Ursula the sea witch to turn her human, in exchange for Ariel giving up her voice. However, if Ariel didn't receive a kiss from the prince in three days, her soul would belong to Ursula forever. Ariel agreed and received a pair of legs.
Ursula attempts to sabotage the deal, but Ariel's father, King Triton, intervenes. Like most Disney films, the story has a happy ending. Ariel remains a human and ends up marrying Prince Eric.
Hans Christian Andersen's Story (1837)
On their 15th birthday, each mermaid is allowed to swim to the water's surface and roam freely. The Mermaid (who remains nameless throughout the story), swims to the top on her birthday and notices a ship filled with humans, included a prince she can't keep her eyes off of. A horrible storm knocks the ship on its side, almost causing the prince to drown. The Mermaid saves him.
The young mermaid learns her kind can sometimes live up to 300 years and that they turn to sea foam upon their death, while humans have much shorter lives but have souls that live on for eternity. After her grandmother tells her this information, she decides she wants to be with the prince and trade in her extended life for a soul.
The tenaged mermaid asks the Sea Witch to make her human. The Sea Witch tries to persuade her to change her mind, calling her foolish, but The Little Mermaid is relentless. In order to become human, she will have to give up her voice and deal with excruciating pain every time she walks. Also, if the prince didn't marry her, then the morning after his wedding The Little Mermaid would turn to sea foam. After agreeing to the rules, the Sea Witch proceeds to cut out her tongue.
Ultimately, the prince marries someone else. To prevent her from turning into sea foam, The Little Mermaid's sisters give her a dagger that will allow her to turn back into a mermaid if she uses it to kill the prince. She can't kill him, because her love is too strong. Still in human form, she decides to throw herself into the water and turn into foam.
Suddenly, something miraculous happened. Her body began to rise to the sky. Although her physical body is destroyed, The Little Mermaid is transformed into a Daughter of the Air. After 300 years of good deeds, a Daughter of the Air is given a soul and entry into Heaven.
Little information has been disclosed about how closely the new film will interpret the original fairy tale. More details on the film will be revealed about as soon as they're made available.
Moretz does not rest when it comes to doing what she loves. You can catch her in Neighbors 2: Sorority Rising with Zac Efron and Selena Gomez, The 5th Wave alongside Liev Schreiber, November Criminals with Ansel Elgort, and an DreamWorks Animation comedy called Trolls, starring Justin Timberlake and Anna Kendrick.
