Sofia Coppola is in talks to direct Universal Pictures' live-action version of The Little Mermaid, Deadline reports.

Famously adapted by Disney in 1989, Hans Christian Andersen's 19th-century fairy tale is considerably darker than the animated film, with the prince marrying another woman after the Little Mermaid goes through a painful transformation process. Stuck as a human with her love married to another, she's offered a chance to go back to her old life if she stabs the prince and lets his blood drip on her feet. Unable to kill him, she throws herself into the ocean, where she turns into a "daughter of the air" who will go around doing good deeds.

Edward Scissorhands writer Caroline Thompson is trying her hand at the script which was already attempted by Kelly Marcel (Fifty Shades of Grey) and Abi Morgan (Shame). The film is expected to move along quickly once Coppola signs on to direct.

Coppola, a writer and director who made her feature debut in 1999 with The Virgin Suicides, won an Oscar in 2002 for her screenplay for Lost in Translation. Her last film was 2013's The Bling Ring.