The Little Mermaid Gets A Rewrite By 50 Shades Of Grey Screenwriter

It was only a matter of time before Hans Christian Andersen’s The Little Mermaid got tossed onto the live-action fairy tale bandwagon. Now that film, which has been in the works for awhile now, is talking about getting another rewrite … by the same screenwriter who wrote the 50 Shades Of Grey film.

Screenwriter Kelly Marcel is currently in talks to do the rewrite for the live-action version of The Little Mermaid, eventually to be directed by Joe Wright (Anna Karenina). Marcel has had a varied career so far, working on the series Terra Nova, and recently penning the Tom Hanks vehicle Saving Mr. Banks, which stars Mr. Hanks as Walt Disney.

But the one that attracts our attention is Marcel’s attachment to the film version of 50 Shades Of Grey. How she’s managed to turn that book into an acceptable film that is not pornography is something that we’re all very excited/terrified to know. Now she’s tasked with handling a (very sad) children’s story with its own rather bizarre sexual undercurrents.

The Little Mermaid has already been through several writers, including the writer of Shame, Abi Morgan. So I’m guessing that we’re going a bit more adult than the Disney version, yeah? Or is this all just a very weird coincidence?

There’s as yet little indication of whether The Little Mermaid will follow the Disney version many of us grew up with, or the original short story, which is much sadder and more distressing for all involved. There’s also no saying if the involvement of Marcel means that this version will be – ahem – more adult than Disney’s. I don’t really know if I can handle that.

We’ll have to wait and see what Marcel and director Joe Wright come up with for The Little Mermaid. I might be going out on a limb here, but I’m going to guess that it will be weird.