Disney's The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Daniel]

Christian Navarro from 13 Reasons Why auditioning for Prince Eric. Interesting. Don't know of him though!

A few weeks back Dylan Minnette from the same show supposedly had a test screening.

[Daniel]

Harry Styles explains why he passed on the role of Eric. (warning for language)

Disney passes on Christian Navarro.

[Daniel]

Awkwafina officially confirmed.

Another day, another name being thrown around for Eric, this time Gavin Leatherwood from Chilling Adventures of Sabrina:




Per the article, other names that may be in the running: Jordan Fisher, Jacob Elordi, Timothee Chalamet, Cole Sprouse, and Niall Horan. I know of Cole, the others not so much.

Come on Disney, pick someone!

[EricJ]

Come on Disney, pick someone!

Am I mistaken, or does there seem to be more fan interest in what name gets attached to the project if one gets made, than to whether the project gets made at ALL?
That can get very confusing for the studio, you know, and lead them into thinking we want to see the movie.

[Ben]

They don’t care if we want to see the movie or not...they know it’s going to make a billion bucks either way...!

[Daniel]

Two more names in the running, Cameron Cuffe and Jonah Hauer-King:



Of the two, I would probably lean more towards Jonah Hauer-King. I liked him in the recent Little Women BBC miniseries.

[Ben]

I worry about the name recognition in this thing.

I mean, most of these Disney remakes have also been sold on "oh look who's playing Maleficent/Belle/Wicked Stepmother/the Genie, etc, but this seems devoid of even one huge name. I guess Aladdin kind of pedalled back on having so many recognisable supporting faces, and obviously here they have a fair share of known names, and some even with a fair few followings, but it feels very underpowered in the casting department. Yes, they have that McCarthy woman as the villain, and maybe they think that’s their star part, but even she's not a four-quadrant draw in the full sense.

That said, it could be that going for largely unknowns is the point, cutting lose some of the baggage that can come with casting bigger names, but I’d have liked Eric to be a personality rather than someone just filling a role.

[Daniel]

"that McCarthy woman" Well, even that's not 100% confirmed, although a safe bet. Never know, something could suddenly come up!

What you bring up reminds me of something Jodi once mentioned in an interview:

PS: Who would you love to see play Ariel in the live-action movie?

JB: It's interesting. I understand there are celebrities that they're thinking and that makes total sense, I totally get that. A part of me would kind of like to have somebody new. I'd really love to see a real 16-year-old play the part. It would be incredible if they did a search for somebody, because she's out there. In some ways, when you attach a celebrity to an iconic role like that, sometimes you get a little caught up with who the person is and a little less focus on the story. So I kind of wish they'd do a little search, but I understand you got to sell tickets.

Very true.

[Daniel]

Luke Eisner has auditioned for... I don't even need to say. And a different character for once, Daveed Digs is in talks to play Sebastian. No clue of either!

Anyway, here's a promo for the live TV special, where it shows the cast and what their costumes will look like:



Considering the budget, about what I was expecting. The casting is really on point. I think Latifah looks the best! Followed by Phillips. Nice to see Stamos involved too, considering he's such a Disney fanatic.

Like I said earlier, this already looks and feels more special than the movie thus far. No huge names, but good draws methinks. I'm looking forward to this!

[Daniel]

Poster for the special:



Behind the scenes clip:



Has potential.

[Daniel]

Back to the movie, Alan Menken on new songs:

“We’re like four or five new songs in. We’re really having a good time writing it together. We’re writing a new song for Eric. We’re writing a new song for Ariel. We’re writing a new song for Scuttle.”

Ariel I expected, an Eric one would be cool but... Scuttle? What a terrible idea. Maybe if Scuttle (if that name even sticks) was still a "he". That just sounds awful. I hope it stays on paper...

[ShyViolet]

I’m not opposed to the idea of this movie...but how can they possibly replace Jodie Benson? In my opinion Aerial’s “Part of Your World” number is one of the most beautiful musical moments ever put to film.

And yeah, Scuttle singing...seriously? I’d much rather have a Flounder song, he was so adorable!! (Plus he was much closer to Aeriel than Scuttle was, so it makes more sense narratively to have a singing sequence for him.)

[Daniel]

Must resist correcting...!

Yeah, I would love for Flounder to get a song! Like when Ariel loses her voice, he could sing to help lift her spirits.

[Ben]

Bet he Miranda-raps it. Or "Miraps" it?

[Daniel]

Sean Bailey, president of production at Disney Studios, talks some on the remake:

The original Little Mermaid was also considered problematic on the gender front. Because Ariel, in order to get her man, has to give up her voice, her most magical and distinctive quality. You can see why this might fly in 19th-century Denmark, when Hans Christian Andersen wrote the Little Mermaid fairy tale. But in 21st-century, anywhere: the idea of a woman literally silencing herself in the pursuit of romance feels—well, pretty 19th-century. The new Little Mermaid is scheduled to come out next year, and we asked Sean Bailey about that.

BAILEY: Well, I don’t want to say too much about it because they do involve some, sort of, plot changes. It’s something we’ve talked a lot about. And we are definitely working to still sort of deliver the beautiful foundations of that story while being cognizant of the times we find ourselves in.

I will say, on a more personal front, I have a daughter. I took this job around 10 years ago. She was around seven-years-old. And I watched, as I was preparing to take the job, a lot of the old animated pictures. And while they’re wonderful in many, many ways, I was watching them with my daughter and thought if—if we’re going to tell them now, there’s a lot of things we should probably do for little girls who are going to watch these versions. And for young men, by the way, as well. So what’s the world that we want to reflect, while respecting what is clearly timeless about the stories?

"Plot changes"? Depends, but oy.

Wouldn't shock me in the least if they do away with "Kiss the Girl"...