On the same month Javier Bardem joined the cast as King Triton while Harry Styles and Jack Whitehall were considering the role of Prince Eric. “After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance-plus a glorious singing voice-all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role,” The next month, on July 3, Halle Bailey was officially announced through Disney's official social media accounts to play the title role of Ariel, with the director stating: Two days after, Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay were rumored to have been cast in the film voicing a now gender bent Scuttle and Ariel's famous sidekick Flounder respectively, on July 1 this news was confirmed by Variety. On June 28, 2019, it was announced that Melissa McCarthy was in talks to play Ursula in the film. Zendaya however, was rumored to have been offered the title role from late 2018 to early 2019 but continuously stated that it was "Just a rumor". Studio veterans Lindsay Lohan and Chris Evans expressed interest in starring in the adaptation, while some fans wanted Ariana Grande to play the role of Ariel. Halle Bailey (top left), Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina (bottom right) will star in the film as Ariel, King Triton, Ursula, Sebastian, Flounder and Scuttle. On February 10, 2020, Miranda revealed that rehearsals for the film had already begun. On July 3, 2019, David Magee, who previously wrote the screenplay for Marshall's Mary Poppins Returns, was revealed to have written the script with Goldman. During an interview on December 21, 2018, Marshall revealed that the film is in very early stages of development, stating that the studio is trying to explore ways to translate the original film's story into live-action. Later in December, Marshall was officially hired as director for the film. Live-action's a whole other world so you have to be very careful about how that's done, but so we're starting the exploration phase".
On December 5, 2018, Marshall revealed that he, along with John DeLuca and Marc Platt were hired to begin developing the project for film adaptation, and said that "John and have begun our work trying to explore it and figure it out", as he felt that "it's a very complicated movie to take from animation to live-action. On December 6, 2017, it was reported that Rob Marshall was being courted by the Walt Disney Company to direct the film, while Jane Goldman will serve as screenwriter. On August 16, 2016, it was announced that Lin-Manuel Miranda, a fan of the original film, will co-produce the film with Marc Platt. On May 25, 2016, Deadline Hollywood reported that Disney is in early development for a live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. Production Development ĭirector and co-producer Rob Marshall (left) and screenwriters Jane Goldman and David Magee Īdditionally, Noma Dumezwani, Jessica Alexander, Russell Balogh, Adrian Christopher, Emily Coates and Simone Ashley have been cast in undisclosed roles. The character will be portrayed as a female diving bird instead of a male seagull as in the original in order to feature the character in underwater scenes. Awkwafina as Scuttle, a dimwitted diving bird and a friend of Ariel's, to whom she provides inaccurate descriptions of any human/surface world object Ariel finds.
Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, an anxious yet noble tropical fish who is Ariel's best friend.Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, a loyal crab and King Triton's trusted servant and court composer who watches over Ariel.Kajsa Mohammar as Karina, a new character for the film.Lorena Andrea as Perla, a new character for the film.
A young mermaid makes a deal with a sea witch: trading her beautiful voice to get human legs so she can discover the world above water and impress a prince.