Famous filmmaker Sophia Coppola revealed she exited Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” remake when an executive asked her what could be done to appeal to 35-year-old men.
The star spoke out about feeling uncomfortable with the situation during a recent interview with Rolling Stone, sharing the exact moment that made her decide to walk away from the film entirely.
“I was in a boardroom and some development guy said, ‘What’s gonna get the 35-year-old man in the audience?’ And I just didn’t know what to say,” she told the outlet.
if sophia coppola directed twilight breaking dawn part 2 i would be a completely different person today https://t.co/1eQOyDTmqn
— cas wlw superbowl era (@casele_c) October 24, 2023
Coppola developed the film alongside Universal Pictures and Working Title in 2014 and wanted the movie to be closer to the original, darker story first told by Hans Christian Anderson than to the Disney fairytale version, according to Rolling Stone.
She left the live-action project after clashing with the studios over the significant budget required to bring the film to life in the way she envisioned it, but admitted that she knew her time on the film was going to be cut short when she realized a studio executive wanted the movie to appeal to older men.
“I just was not in my element,” she said, per Rolling Stone. “I feel like I was naive, and then I felt a lot like the character in the story, trying to do something out of my element, and it was a funny parallel of the story for me.” (RELATED: Disney Changed Lyrics In ‘The Little Mermaid’ Remake Because ‘Kiss The Girl’ Was Too Rapey, Apparently)
The star went on to say that wasn’t the only movie she passed up. She also turned down the opportunity to direct the final film in the “Twilight” series because she didn’t like the concept at all.
“I thought the whole imprinting-werewolf thing was weird. The baby. Too weird!” Coppola said, according to Rolling Stone.