It's emerged that Sofia Coppola has dropped out of The Little Mermaid because of creative differences. She was set to direct a live-action version of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy tale The Little Mermaid, having aligned herself with the project in March 2014.

Reportedly, the studios are looking for a much darker take on the classic fairytale – they want to pull production away from Disney glitz and more in line with the fairytale's macabre roots. To that end, Coppola seemed like the perfect candidate to steer the project in this direction, having never been a director who's afraid of the dark.

Despite Coppola's withdrawal Tim Bevan, Eric Fellner and Universal are pressing ahead with film. Caroline Thompson, best known for writing the Beetlejuice screenplay, is in charge of a script that's said to be "beautiful and exquisite and painful". Don't expect a happy ending.

Andreja Pejić is the only confirmed star for the production so far, with the androgynous model playing one of the mermaid sisters.

Coppola currently has no other projects lined up, but has just finished directing the Netflix special A Very Murray Christmas, a seasonal special she co-wrote with Bill Murray and Mitch Glazer.