Prince Eric’s new song from The Little Mermaid is a ‘call out’ to Ariel: ‘The two seek adventure’ – Exclusive image

Do The little Mermaid work, there are many things you need to do right. And perhaps more important than any technical challenge, or the pressure of tackling one of Disney’s most beloved animated classics, it all boils down to this: do audiences really need Touch the bond between the adventurous mermaid Ariel and the human sailor Prince Eric. If there’s no chemistry, the romantic spark that drives Ariel to make this desperate bargain – to trade her flipper for feet, at a terrible price – makes no sense. So there’s no pressure on Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King, the stars tasked with making it work in Rob Marshall’s live-action reimagining of the 1989 favorite.

Helping establish that connection and characterization in Marshall’s film is a new number for Eric, “Wild Uncharted Waters,” one of three tunes written by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Alan Menken to accompany the classics. If the original Eric represents a “part of this world” that Ariel has always wanted to explore, the 2.0 Eric is more like his equal and opposite: someone born on the continent, always facing the Big Blue. “It’s a call to girl who saved him,” says Hauer-King of his new song. “Both seek adventure, to other worlds.”

For Hauer-King and Bailey, the experience of directing the film was a great adventure in itself. But while one would expect the mermaid side of the cast to have spent most of filming in the giant pools of Pinewood, Hauer-King says it was he who really braved the water’s path. “The person who got the most wet in this movie by far was me!” he is laughing. “It came from a smart decision [of Rob’s], that is, as a human being, you should interact with water as a human would. So for my stuff, the wreck, the water fights, I needed to get wet. Halle and mermaids can’t interact with water like humans, so they were on the blue screen.” We bet you wanted to be a part of it This world while filming instead.

Light EmpireIs full The little Mermaid feature film, speaking with Rob Marshall, musical legends Alan Menken and Lin-Manual Miranda, and cast members Halle Bailey, Jonah Hauer-King and Daveed Diggs, in the next June 2023 issue, on sale Thursday, June 13. April. become a Empire member now to access the full issue on launch day or book at print a copy here. The little Mermaid arrives in UK cinemas from 26 May.