The upcoming live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid” has rounded out the cast with the announcement of Prince Eric being filled. Production will begin in 2020 with no official theatrical release date yet.
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Variety announced Jonah Hauer-King will be playing Prince Eric alongside Halle Bailey’s portrayal of Ariel. Earlier this year there was a lot of controversy and fan opinion over the potential of casting Harry Styles for the role, which reports later confirmed he had turned down. Variety reported Hauer-King had a screen test as recently as November 9th, helping him director Rob Marshall make the final decision to choose him over the competition.
The other leading roles now filled include: Melissa McCarthy has been cast as Ursula, Javier Bardem is King Triton, Awkwafina as Scuttle, and Daveed Diggs as Sebastian. The script is being written by David Magee from “Mary Poppins Returns.”
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Producers for the film include John DeLuca, Marc Platt, and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Luckily for fans, the film will still include some of the original music from the 1989 classic by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, with some new songs by Menken and lyrics by Miranda.
This is a full-length film that will be in theaters, not to be confused with “The Wonderful World of Disney Presents: The Little Mermaid LIVE!” special that aired November 2019 starring Auli’i Cravalho as Ariel, Queen Latifah as Ursula, and John Stamos as Chef Louis. You can catch that special now over on the Disney+ streaming service.
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(Photo credit: Getty Images and Disney)