Shana Feste, the writer/director of last year’s Country Strong, has come aboard Sony Pictures’ adaptation of Carolyn Turgeon’s Mermaid: A Twist on the Classic Tale, Variety reports.
The book, released earlier this year, re-tells “The Little Mermaid” and is officially described as follows:
When Lenia, a young mermaid princess, rescues a man from a shipwreck and carries him to shore, her selfless act is witnessed by Princess Margrethe, who is staying in a convent nearby for protection from the war her father is fighting against another kingdom. The shipwrecked young mans name is Christopher, and in the weeks that hes nursed back to health at the convent, he and Margrethe fall in lovebut its not until after he leaves that Margrethe discovers hes the prince from the kingdom her family is at war with.
Meanwhile, in the sea Lenia is suffering; she fell in love with Christopher in the moments she carried him to shore, so she makes a deal with the sea witch: in exchange for her voice and tongue she receives a potion that changes her into human form. Margrethe comes up with a plan of her own: shell be offered in marriage to Christopher, thus uniting the kingdoms and putting an end to the years of conflict between the two lands. But when Margrethe arrives, ready to win and wed her prince, she finds him enraptured with a beautiful woman who looks very familiar. Margrethe is sure shes seen her before
Mermaid won’t be the only re-telling of the Han Christian Andersen story. It was recently reported that Hanna director Joe wright has his own version of “The Little Mermaid” in the works.
