The locs and hair extensions Halle wore in the movie be over $ 150,000 and " ask 12 to 14 hour " to instal .
1.Halle Baileywas actually the first person to audition for Ariel, and director Rob Marshall said that he knew she was the perfect fit before she even came into the room.
2.Jonah Hauer-King’saudition processto play Prince Eric lasted seven months. He sent in numerous self tapes of him playing Eric in different accents, sang several songs (including some fromWest Side Story, Rent, and ones written byAmy Winehouse), and went to an in-person screen test with Halle.
3.The locs and extensions that Halle wore in the movie cost over$150,000. The wrap process also “took 12 to 14 hours” which is a technique where they took the fake hair and wrapped it around Halle’snatural hair,so she wouldn’t have to color it or “change her internal hair structure.”
4.Back in the ’90s, one of Melissa McCarthy’s first jobs was doing stand-up comedy in drag. She drew inspiration from her own experiences and other drag queens' performances (namelyDivine) to portray Ursula.
5.One of the moments the remake recreates is Ariel’siconic hair flip moment. Halle said that it took about 20 tries to get the moment as close to perfect as possible.
6.In fact, part of Halle’s, and several of the other mermaids', training includedweight liftingto strengthen her necks.
7.Javier Bardem explained that he didn’t even wear his merman tail much on set. The tails were worn to help him visualize his spacial awareness, but otherwise, he just wore pants while filming.
8.To film the “Under the Sea"scene, several dancers and puppeteers needed to wear blue screen suits and were then edited in post-production to appear as various sea creatures.
9.Jacob Tremblay was 13 years old when he first recorded his lines for Flounder and is currently 16 years old at the time of the movie’s release.
10.Daveed Diggs, who voices Sebastian,explainedthat the voice cast rehearsed together for a month “before any cameras began filming.” This gave them a chance to actually bond as cast mates, build chemistry, improvise, and riff off of each other.
11.However, when it came time for Halle to physically film with Sebastian, Flounder, and Scuttle, she was by herself with thepuppeteersand a recording of Daveed, Jacob, and Awkwafina’s voices. Sometimes, atennis ballor smaller puppet was brought in as a placeholder for its respective character.
12.A majority of the film was comprised of shots actually filmed inside awater tank.
13.Jonah nearlydrownedwhile shooting the movie because he’s not the best swimmer and had to wear a heavy pair of boots that weighed him down while he was in the water. The crew had to poke holes in his boots so that they wouldn’t fill up with water.
14.Jonah was put on a “standard bodybuilding program” before filming began, and after months of training, Rob Marshall had said Jonah had gottentoo muscularfor the role.
15.Ariel’s new song"For the First Time,“was actually inspired by thescorefrom the original animated movie, created by Alan Menken.
16.Lin-Manuel Miranda actually went toschoolwith Alan Menken’s niece and was obsessed withThe Little Mermaidat the time so he’d ask for Alan’s autograph. Years later, Alan re-met Lin as an adult and collaborated on new songs forThe Little Mermaidremake.
17.Jodi Benson, the original actor to voice Ariel in the animated movie, had to keep hercameoa secret for four years — she couldn’t even tell her family.
18.Jodi’scameois only a few seconds long, but it ended up taking about a month to film because of COVID-19 restrictions and a storm that nearly destroyed the set.
19.Finally, Simone Ashley, who plays Ariel’s sister Indira, seemingly got the call she was cast inBridgertonwhile she was on setfilmingThe Little Mermaid.
