Sofia Coppola, director of The Virgin Suicides, The Bling Ring and Lost in Translation, will direct a live-action version of the classic Hans Christian Andersen fairytale The Little Mermaid.

Deadline confirmed reports that talks had taken place between Coppola and Universal/Working Title. Atonement director Joe Wright had previously been attached to the project; he is currently working on Pan, an update of JM Barrie’s children’s stories.

The Little Mermaid has been in gestation for a number of years. In 2011 screenwriter Abi Morgan submitted a script and said at the time that the story was “so beautiful and exquisite and painful, so we absolutely have to have the original ending”, in which the mermaid sacrifices herself for love. Now Tim Burton favourite Caroline Thompson, who wrote Edward Scissorhands, The Nightmare Before Christmas and Corpse Bride, has been drafted in.

Deadline reports that with Coppola on board, the “intention is to move quickly”. This marks a notable departure from the more adult themes of her previous work.