Production of the upcoming "The Little Mermaid" movie has seen its ups and downs, with hired director Sofia Coppola stepping down from the project a few days back, but the film's certainly going forward now after that mischance, with a star having been officially hired for the job - Chloe Grace Moretz!

While "The Little Mermaid" movie, which is in no way related to Disney's 1989 version but rather on Hans Christen Andersen's fairytale, is still short of a director following Coppola's departure, it has just been announced that it's moving forward with an actress to play the title role, 18 year-old "Hugo" star Moretz.

It was Variety who first reported Moretz as the lead of the "Little Mermaid" movie, which will be co-produced between Working Title and Universal from a screenplay by Richard Curtis, which has yet to be written but has been commissioned to the writer, who in the past has penned scripts for films like "Love Actually," the first two "Bridget Jones" movies as well as Steven Spielberg's "War Horse."

The Wrap reports that before being officially announced, Moretz had been rumored for the title role in the "Little Mermaid" movie for a very long time, and insiders claim that the main reason Coppola walked out of the project was due to her unwillingness to work with the "Kick-Ass" actress, having cited "creative differences" at the time - though it seems she just wanted to cast a relative unknown like Ethan Hawke and Uma Thurman's daughter, Maya.

In any case, Moretz certainly seems exhilarated to share her involvement with the "Little Mermaid" movie.

"Here it is !! I've been waiting months to tell everyone how excited I am to take on this beautiful journey with Working Title, Universal, and a beautiful script by Richard Curtis," the star shared on her Instagram account, according to E! Online. "#TheLittleMermaid !!!! Here we go!!!"

There's still no release date announced for the "Little Mermaid" movie.