The Little Mermaid is Disney’s 20th live-action feature film remake based on the animated film. The first domestic weekend brought in over $95.5 million, which is twice as much as some well-known 2023 films earned on their opening days.
Interesting facts about the movie
The film received a lot of attention even before its release and became one of the most discussed, especially after the release of the first trailer. By the way, the trailer for The Little Mermaid received the largest number of views online among all Disney films – 104 million in the first day alone. And not least because the mermaid was played by a black actress Holly Bailey.
Those who criticized this choice pointed out that The Little Mermaid was a fairy tale from Denmark. But the creators and supporters had their own arguments. Mermaids are folklore heroes in many cultures. Many beliefs arose long before the spread of European mythology or before Andersen’s fairy tale. For example, the cult of Yemange, which is widespread among the black population of Latin America, or Mamie Vata, the water deity of the Voodoo cult.
Actress Holly Bailey was one of the first to read for the role of Ariel. During the audition, her performance of “Part of Your World” made director Rob Marshall cry. Melissa McCarthy also burst into tears when she first heard the song.
The Little Mermaid jokingly admitted that when she was recreating the famous hair scene (when Ariel swims to the surface and flips her hair), she almost broke her neck because her own curls and artificial ones became very heavy in the water. No wonder, Ariel’s hair was made of 30-inch long extensions, which took 14-15 hours to fix. By the way, the total cost of the mermaid’s hairstyle is over 150 thousand dollars.
The movie paid special attention to the costumes. According to designer Colleen Atwood, all the jewelry of the underwater people is made from marine elements. The designers especially wanted them to not look like objects familiar to people. For example, the inspiration for Triton’s crown was a magazine article with photos of shark teeth. The mermaid’s costume has also undergone changes – it lost its shells and acquired “fishy properties”.
Something incredible about Ursula and Melissa McCarthy
There was an interesting story with the role of Ursula.
First, in the movie, Ursula and Triton turn out to be related, which was not the case in the original cartoon. In fact, this line was simply cut out, although it was in the script. Later, it appeared in the Broadway production, and now it’s in the movie.
Secondly, the singer Lizzo really wanted to play Ursula and even posted a video on Instagram of herself singing the iconic song Poor Unfortunate Souls. But the role went to Melissa McCarthy. When the actress later met with the singer at an interview, she was very surprised to find out that she had won this “fight”.
Thirdly, Melissa McCarthy had never sung and did not even realize that she could sing when she was cast as Ursula. But after lessons with a vocal teacher, she successfully coped with the vocal parts.
Fourthly, to prepare for the role, the actress consulted with drag queens (Ursula’s appearance and behavior in the original animated film were inspired by the famous American drag queen Devine). The actress also admitted that she had seen the original cartoon more than a hundred times, as she always showed it to her children when she was a nanny.
And one more interesting thing about Ursula. When she creates a potion to seduce Eric and distract him from Ariel, the main ingredient is a bottle in the shape of a human stomach. This is a reference to the phrase “the way to a man’s heart is through his stomach”.
Music became one of the important characters in the movie. Although two songs, Daughters of Triton and Les Poissons, were removed from the film, composer Lin-Manuel Miranda wrote three completely new songs with the original cartoon’s composer Alan Menken.
This is not the first collaboration with mermaids for director Rob Marshall. In Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides already had scenes with sea creatures. He asked the film crew to review those fragments so that everyone would have an idea of what they needed to achieve, because similar visual effects were used for the films.
The Little Mermaid is not a banal retelling of the famous film, if only because it features original characters who were not in The Little Mermaid (1989). For example, Queen Selina, played by Noma Dumezweni. “The Little Mermaid 2023 is a new story of a famous fairy tale with incredible special effects, beautiful music and very good acting.
