‘Splash’ Redo With Jillian Bell Sets ‘Sleepover’s Sarah Rothschild As Scribe

EXCLUSIVE: We hear that Sarah Rothschild, the writer of the Netflix movie Sleepover, will be writing the latest draft of Disney/Imagine/Free Association’s Splash remake.

Deadline first told you about the remake back in 2016 with the 22 Jump Street and Inherent Vice actress attached.

The original Splash in 1984 was a huge hit for Disney at a near $70M stateside, the first of its adult-demo features released at the time under its Touchstone label, and the first major hit for director Ron Howard and producer Brian Grazer which led to the creation of their Imagine in November 1985. The original starred Tom Hanks and Darryl Hanna as a man and a mermaid, respectively, who fall in love after being reunited years after she saved his life as a boy. Marja-Lewis Ryan wrote an earlier draft of the Splash remake.

Rothschild, an award-winning screenwriter, recently adapted The Love Hypothesis for MRC and Elizabeth Cantillon and wrote 24/7 – a modern day take on Working Girl – which was sold to Universal with Eva Longoria’s UnbeliEVAble and Paul Feig producing. Both Longoria and Kerry Washington are attached to star in that project.

Rothschild’s original feature, The Sleepover, was released by Netflix in 2020 and starred Ken Marino, Malin Ackerman and Joe Manganiello. The film was directed by Trish Sie (Pitch Perfect 3).

On the television side, Rothschild’s pilot Before I Forget has UnbeliEVAble producing, Longoria starring, and Marc Webb (500 Days of Summer) attached to direct.

Rothschild is repped by Verve and attorney Kim Stenton.