When it became known that Disney was planning a live-action remake of the animated classic “The Little Mermaid”, the big question was: Who will play Ariel and Eric? Pop star Harry Styles almost played the prince – but that didn’t happen.
One can only imagine how Harry Styles fans would have freaked out if the pop superstar played a Disney prince. As we reported a while ago, and as director Rob Marshall has now confirmed, Styles was being considered for the role of Prince Eric in the remake of The Little Mermaid. Marshall now revealed opposite Entertainment Weekly that he even met the musician and actor personally to talk about the role.
But as everyone knows, Prince Erik in “Arielle” is now from Jonah Hauer-King played. Why not Harry? Even back when Harry Styles’ cancellation of the project became known, it was said that the star had made the decision himself. Now Marshall went into detail about what prompted the Erik candidate to do so:
“We met. He was so lovely. What a wonderful person. But at the end of the day, he decided to move on and do the films that he did, which were darker.”
Harry Styles preferred other genres
Said film projects that Harry Styles has realized in recent years, both of which will be released in 2022, are the queer drama “My Husband’s Lover” with Emma Corrin and David Dawson, which you can watch by subscribing to Amazon Prime Video, and Psycho – Thriller “Don’t Worry Darling” starring Florence Pugh, Olivia Wilde, and Chris Pine.
Rob Marshall explained in an interview with EW further that he understands very well the need of young, musical people like Harry Styles to want to go their way and not always be seen only as a singer – but in “Arielle, the Mermaid” there is a lot of singing. Marshall explains that’s why Styles wanted to do something other than a musical to broaden his range. “It was a really fun idea to play with, but ultimately I think everything happens for a reason. I’m so happy that we have two young, new people in the film.”
Those two young new characters are the aforementioned Jonah Hauer-King, who will play Prince Erik, and Halle Bailey, who will play the mermaid Ariel. The whole thing can be seen in cinemas from May 25, 2023 – and here is the trailer for the “Arielle” live-action for you, in which you can see the two stars in action.
