Fans were just as curious about the casting for Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid as Ariel is about whozits, whatzits, and thingamabobs. After five-time Grammy-nominated singer Halle Bailey landed the lead role, all eyes turned towards Prince Eric, which was looking like it was going to go to another music icon, Harry Styles.
Director Rob Marshall confirms for EW's Little Mermaid cover story that he did, in fact, meet with the "As It Was" singer and explains why that casting ultimately didn't happen.
"We met with him. He was lovely. What a wonderful guy," Marshall says of Styles, 29. "But at the end of the day, he really felt like he wanted to go off and do the movies that he ended up doing, which were sort of darker."
Styles ended up starring in two movies in 2022: Don't Worry Darling with Florence Pugh and Chris Pine, and My Policeman with David Dawson and Emma Corrin.
Gareth Cattermole/Getty Images; Giles Keyte/Disney Harry Styles; Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric in 'The Little Mermaid'
"For a lot of young musical people like Harry, you're trying to carve your way and you don't wanna be seen as a singer, necessarily," Marshall, who's directed such well-regarded movie musicals as Chicago and Into the Woods, continues. "That's why he was really looking to do something not in the musical genre, to really stretch himself. It was really a fun idea to play with, but in the end, I always think things happen for a reason. I'm so happy to have two young, new people in the film."
While Bailey, 23, has been singing all her adult life as one half of R&B duo Chloe x Halle with sister Chlöe Bailey, Marshall says, "We don't know her as an actor." Bailey appeared on the TV show Grown-ish and in the film Last Holiday, but The Little Mermaid marks her first starring role in a big Hollywood production.
Jonah Hauer-King, 27, ultimately landed the Prince Eric part opposite her. A British actor who's been consistently working across various projects — including the PBS Little Women miniseries — but hasn't yet had a breakout moment, Hauer-King was immediately likable in the audition, says Marshall.
"I'm always looking for the person who's deeply connected to a part," the director adds. "The words come off the page [and] all of a sudden they're in his mouth, and it sounds true and real. You believe the person."
Read more about The Little Mermaid in EW's cover story with Marshall, Bailey, Hauer-King, Melissa McCarthy, and more. The film will open in theaters this May 26.
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