‘Little Mermaid’ star reveals Prince Eric and Ariel have a extra ‘mature’ romance

“The Little Mermaid” is in for some large modifications.

Along with casting Halle Bailey as a black Ariel, the brand new live-action remake of Disney’s 1989 animated basic will discover the mermaid heroine having a “extra grown-up and mature” relationship with Prince Eric, in accordance with his portrayer Jonah Hauer-King.

That features an replace of Alan Menken’s “Kiss the Girl” lyrics in order that it wouldn’t appear as if Eric was forcing himself on Ariel.

“My understanding is that there have been some emotions round consent and asking to kiss somebody, which makes complete sense to me,” Hauer-King, 27, told the Hollywood Reporter.

Having witnessed the racist backlash that Bailey confronted for taking part in Ariel, the London native mentioned he does “not likely perceive what to make of it.”

“Rob [Marshall, the director] and the producers and Disney didn’t method this movie and this casting with any sort of agenda — they only needed to solid the one who was finest for the position,” mentioned Hauer-King.

“In the end, you need somebody who has the most effective voice and the most effective spirit and essentially the most charisma, attraction and humor and finest performing expertise, and that’s Halle,” he concluded.

Hauer-King — whose credit embody the 2019 movie “A Canine’s Means Dwelling” and the BBC drama “World on Hearth” — initially auditioned for “The Little Mermaid” as only a “enjoyable expertise.”

However after seven months of auditions, he scored his personal casting coup, beating out none apart from Harry Types for the coveted position.

“He’s fairly cool and amazingly gifted, so yeah, it was cool to be talked about in the identical breath,” he mentioned of the “As It Was” singer, who talked with Marshall about playing Eric.

Nevertheless it was Hauer-King who ended up going by way of three months of rehearsals for the half, studying to trip horses, work with canines, scuba dive, row and function a horse carriage

“I’ve by no means executed a lot coaching in my life,” he mentioned.