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The Little Mermaid (upcoming film) facts for kids

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The Little Mermaid
The Little Mermaid live-action remake logo.jpg
Official logo
Directed by Rob Marshall
Produced by
Screenplay by
Starring
Music by
Cinematography Dion Beebe
Editing by Wyatt Smith
Studio
Distributed by Walt Disney Studios
Motion Pictures
Country United States
Language English

The Little Mermaid is an upcoming American musical fantasy film directed by Rob Marshall from a screenplay by Jane Goldman and David Magee. Produced by Walt Disney Pictures, it is a live action adaptation of the 1989 animated film of the same name, which is loosely based on Hans Christian Andersen's tale of the same name. Serving as producers are Marshall, John DeLuca, Marc Platt and Lin-Manuel Miranda, the latter whom will co-write new songs for the remake with the original film's composer/co-songwriter, Alan Menken, with Menken also returning to compose the score. The film will star Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King, Javier Bardem and Melissa McCarthy with Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina in voice roles.

Cast

  • Halle Bailey as Ariel, a mermaid princess, King Triton's youngest daughter and Ursula's niece who is fascinated with the human world. Director Rob Marshall said that "[Bailey] 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", and that the film is about "[Ariel] finding her voice […] And that immediately just felt like an interesting, timely piece that resonated with [the production crew]". Bailey said that she wanted to bring "freshness" to the character. She also said that "[i]t's amazing that the directors have been so forward in asking [her] to show [her] true self… that's been a really fun growing experience". Co-star Daveed Diggs said that the remake will give "some more power" to Ariel than the original film.
  • Jonah Hauer-King as Eric, a human prince with whom Ariel falls in love after saving him from drowning, while he becomes determined to find Ariel.
  • Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, a sea witch, King Triton's sister and Ariel's aunt whom Ariel makes a deal with to become a human, which is secretly part of Ursula's plan to take over Atlantica.
  • Javier Bardem as King Triton, Ariel's overprotective father, Ursula's brother and the king of Atlantica, who is prejudiced towards humans.
  • Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian, a loyal crab and King Triton's trusted servant who watches over Ariel.
  • Jacob Tremblay as the voice of Flounder, an anxious yet noble tropical fish who is Ariel's best friend.
  • Awkwafina as the voice of Scuttle, a dim-witted diving bird and a friend of Ariel's, to whom she provides inaccurate descriptions of any object Ariel finds. 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.

Additionally, Noma Dumezweni, Jessica Alexander, Russell Balogh, Adrian Christopher, and Emily Coates have been cast in undisclosed roles.

Music

On March 17, 2017, it was announced that Alan Menken, who previously scored and co-wrote songs for the original film, would return as the film's composer and to write new songs alongside producer Lin-Manuel Miranda. Three months later, Menken stated that his work on the film's music had put on hold due to Miranda and Marc Platt's schedules with Mary Poppins Returns. On May 20, 2019, Menken stated that The Little Mermaid would be his next project, following the release of the live-action adaptation of Aladdin, and on July 9, he and Miranda started working on new songs for the film. On replacing the original film's lyricist, the late Howard Ashman, Miranda felt that "[he] will definitely fall short" to Ashman's work, arguing that "no one can write like him". On September 17, 2019, it was reported that Menken and Miranda wrote a new song for Prince Eric, which Menken confirmed on October 11, 2019, and revealed that he and Miranda wrote "like four or five new songs" for the film, including a new song for Eric and Ariel, a new song for King Triton as well as a song for Scuttle. On January 16, 2020, Halle Bailey confirmed that the song "Part of Your World", from the original film, will appear in the remake. On February 10, 2020, Miranda revealed that he and Menken wrote four new songs for the film. On March 22, 2020, Menken revealed that the songs for the film have already been recorded. On February 19, 2021, Menken said that the new songs would be a "blend" of his and Miranda's styles. He elaborated that the songs would feature "some rapping" in the vein of Miranda's previous works, as well as a closer style to his usual work.

See also

Kids robot.svg In Spanish: La Sirenita (película de 2023) para niños

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