The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Disney Duster]

I pick Ariel's voice. I think that is the more important aspect of her. Thank God Halle is said to sound really good.

[Farerb]

I choose the hair. How does one even defines Ariel's voice? Not to mention that many all over the world probably grew up with an Ariel who has a different voice. Now that I'm all grown up I pretty much watch all my Disney films in English (some of them I've always watched in English like Beauty and the Beast), but The Little Mermaid is one film that I like to watch in Hebrew sometimes, mainly because I think the Israeli actress/singer for Ariel is excellent. I never really found Jodi Benson's voice to be that unique, sometimes she sounds bratty, sometimes it feels like she sings through her nose, while I think the Israeli singer has a mesmerizing voice, there's a softness and warmth to it (even though she sounds older than the character should be).
I also really like Ursula's voice in Hebrew (fun fact: Ursula's voice actress also did Mrs. Potts, Big Mama and the Queen of Hearts).

I also heard but never could confirm that the Hebrew dubbing of The Little Mermaid was used as a demonstration to other countries on how to do a proper dubbing for a Disney film. It really is excellent, I only have one complaint which is that they added party voices over the instrumental of Under the Sea (it's a very Israeli thing and yet...).

[Disney's Divinity]

I was not talking about Halle at all. I was strictly focusing on the character of Ariel in general.

My answer was in response to your question, although I can understand how it may have been confusing. To me, putting it as voice v. hair is a false choice because even though they did pick an actress who can sing well, she most likely won't be directed correctly and will end up oversinging the main song the same way as happened in the Live! show. So while the voice is more important on paper, there's no real way to "win" when it comes to the re-make. With someone better in charge, I wouldn't doubt Bailey could have pulled it off. But the end result will probably mean that I wouldn't have cared if they got someone autotuned because I'll enjoy the POYW vocal about the same if it had went that way.

[nomad2010]

I was not talking about Halle at all. I was strictly focusing on the character of Ariel in general.

My answer was in response to your question, although I can understand how it was misunderstood. To me, putting it as voice v. hair is a false choice because even though they did pick an actress who can sing well, she most likely won't be directed correctly and will end up oversinging the main song the same way as happened in the Live! show. So while the voice is more important technically, there's no real way to "win" when it comes to the re-make. With someone better in charge, I wouldn't doubt Bailey could have pulled it off.

I wouldn’t worry too much about her overdoing the song. The Broadway version is just that... Broadway. Theatre is big, and it’s not for subtlety unlike film is. Plus, we know the director is a purist when it comes to these things, sometimes to a fault. If anything I’m more worried about this whole endeavor ending up a total bore and losing the emotional resonance of the original. Rob Marshall just does not direct the most compelling movies in my opinion.

[Disney's Divinity]

I agree that some of Marshall's films are boring if inoffensive. MPR was like that. I was actually talking about the Live show Disney aired on ABC last year, although Boggess did oversing, too. I gave that a pass since, like you said, they likely wanted to make sure she was heard to the back of a huge theater.

[Sotiris]

Daveed Diggs talks about voicing Sebastian.

Q: What's it like to be a part of something like The Little Mermaid, which you grew up with and now you’re not only a part of it, but you get to hear new songs before other people do?

Daveed Diggs: It’s pretty cool. Working in the animation space is always pretty cool. I love that stuff. But something as big as Disney’s The Little Mermaid – and I felt this on Soul too, just because of Pixar, particularly for us from the Bay Area because it’s right there and it has this element of mystery about it – just to even get to be behind the scenes on those things is pretty wild. You get to hear a new song before it comes out and it’s amazing, and then you hear the performance of it by an actor you might not expect to be able to do that and that’s also amazing. There are so many cool surprises that I know and I’m just sitting on.

Q: How cool is it get to bring your own thing to Sebastian?

Daveed Diggs: I worked harder on Sebastian probably, than I have for any role in my life. It’s tricky. I wasn’t sure, and this is also true of Layton. I tend to say yes to things when I feel like I can do it, but I’m actually not sure I’m the smart choice or the person naturally who should be doing it. That’s true of Sebastian, for a lot of ways that are uncomfortable. I’m not of Caribbean descent, doing that kind of work and trying to immerse myself. I’ve spent a lot of time in Trinidad and I went to Jamaica to research, and I did a lot of voice work with Chris Walker and with the late Tony Hall, to try to get the voice right. But more than the voice, the thing about a dialect is that everybody’s voice is actually very different, so consistency is really more important than accuracy. Your speech pattern is based on culture, and that was the thing I didn’t wanna let down.

I want somebody who is from Trinidad or from Jamaica, depending on where we landed with the role, to be able to see themselves in this, in some way. Even though maybe my voice doesn’t sound exactly right, I wanted to feel like somebody connected to it. I had so many friends growing up for whom Sebastian was the first time they had seen themselves represented in mainstream American culture. As flawed as that is, that’s still important. So, that role stressed me out quite a bit, but also is incredibly fun. Like I said, I did more research for that role, than I have for any part, ever, and I’m literally a crab. It seems crazy maybe, in hindsight. And the amount of lifting I’m doing in that is nothing compared to Halle [Bailey], or any of the like incredible performers who are really carrying that. I just sing a couple of cool songs and call it a day.

Source: https://collider.com/daveed-diggs-inter ... tral-park/

The decision to play Sebastian the Crab in Disney's live remake of The Little Mermaid felt considerably more fraught. But after agonizing over it, Diggs signed on, joining a star-studded cast that includes Halle Bailey (as Ariel), Melissa McCarthy (Ursula) and Javier Bardem (King Triton). Miranda's on board, too, writing new lyrics for the film, which Disney has every intention of making a gargantuan hit. But even now, having "worked harder on this voice gig for an animated crab than almost any other role," immersing himself in research trips and dialect lessons, Diggs is still uneasy with his involvement.

"I was never gunning to be in these Disney remakes and, if I'm being honest, Sebastian comes with a lot of responsibility. For a lot of folks my age who are from the Caribbean, Sebastian was the first time they'd really seen themselves in American film, and I'm not Caribbean, so …" he pauses there, acknowledging that his team will probably scream at him for even talking about this, and then continues: "We'll see if people crucify me for it."

Diggs has never been blasé about the power of representation. He got to yes on The Little Mermaid in large part because of the bold casting of Bailey, a young Black star, as Ariel. He worked with Disney's Pixar, too, as one of its "cultural consultants" on Soul, the studio's first film with a Black protagonist, to make sure it was reflective.

Source: https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/featu ... od-at-that

[Redadoodles]

My answer was in response to your question, although I can understand how it was misunderstood. To me, putting it as voice v. hair is a false choice because even though they did pick an actress who can sing well, she most likely won't be directed correctly and will end up oversinging the main song the same way as happened in the Live! show. So while the voice is more important technically, there's no real way to "win" when it comes to the re-make. With someone better in charge, I wouldn't doubt Bailey could have pulled it off.

I wouldn’t worry too much about her overdoing the song. The Broadway version is just that... Broadway. Theatre is big, and it’s not for subtlety unlike film is. Plus, we know the director is a purist when it comes to these things, sometimes to a fault. If anything I’m more worried about this whole endeavor ending up a total bore and losing the emotional resonance of the original. Rob Marshall just does not direct the most compelling movies in my opinion.

That's very true but I still have hope that Rob Marshall will make some good decisions with this project as the way he handled the mermaid sequence in POTC5 was just perfect. The acting, lighting, special effects, tension and music were all just wonderful and believe me I dislike that film A LOT.
In a way, the fact that handled the mermaid stuff and the broadway aspect of Into The Woods does in fact make him a suitable director for The Little Mermaid.
Then,there's the fact that he has worked with many giants from the industry but has never been afraid nor threatened by their power/ego and that's when I feel a bit sorry (not too much though!!) for Bill Condon who seems to have been influence by many when he directed Beauty And The Beast and he seems to have been reduced to the title of "That Twilight director" even though he's had other good films under his belt.

[Sotiris]

Javier Bardem Reveals Filming on ‘The Little Mermaid’ Has Begun
https://thedisinsider.com/2021/01/30/ja ... has-begun/

[D82]

I hope we can get some images from the set, though maybe that'll be more difficult now due to the pandemic.

[D82]

Alan Menken talks about the movie in a new podcast:

"There is some rapping in it and I really can't take much credit for the rap aspect of it. Yeah, there's some rapping in it, there's some very Menken songs, there's some very Miranda songs. But it's all the blend of Menken-Miranda.

"I love him, I love working with him. I'm glad we had the opportunity to do that and he's also a producer on the movie but Lin juggles a lot of things, as I do, so we will have occasional contact. Right now it's in the hands of the amazing Rob Marshall and as we speak they are in London right now filming."

Menken had a lot of love for Halle Bailey, who will be taking on the lead role of Ariel: "Oh my gosh, she is adorable and so talented. I met Halle at the recording sessions… I did have to be educated in terms of what she and her sister do together, which is incredible. She is an amazing talent, a beautiful girl, and I got to meet her family."

Source: https://www.whatsonstage.com/london-the ... 53415.html

[Sotiris]

"There is some rapping in it and I really can't take much credit for the rap aspect of it. Yeah, there's some rapping in it, there's some very Menken songs, there's some very Miranda songs. But it's all the blend of Menken-Miranda."

Is LMM literally incapable of working on a project and not include rap? It doesn't go with everything! Rap doesn't fit in the already-established musical vocabulary of the movie. At the very least, I hope the rap is limited to Scuttle's song, because if I see Ariel, Eric or Triton start rapping in the film, I'm gonna lose it.

[Vlad]

What if Ariel starts rapping "Part of Your World"?

[blackcauldron85]

I'm assuming that Sebastian will rap, since Daveed can sing and rap...

[Sotiris]

^But Menken was talking about the new songs he's written with LMM in that interview and Sebastian isn't getting a new song.

[blackcauldron85]

Oh, I didn't realize that...

[D82]

I guess rap is Lin-Manuel Miranda's trademark style and what he thinks people expect from him and that's why he includes it in everything he does. I don't mind it if it's just a small part of a song, but I agree it doesn't fit every project. I've now listened to the whole podcast and Alan is asked if there's going to be rapping in the film, so I don't think he was talking specifically about the new songs. I think it's likely they'll add some rapping to "Under the Sea", for example, the same way they did with "Friend Like Me" in the Aladdin remake. But Scuttle's song is very likely too, since Awkwafina is a rapper as well as an actress. By the way, Alan also reveals on the podcast it was Sean Bailey who proposed him to collaborate with Lin on the music (it's at the -11:30 mark more or less).

[Disney's Divinity]

I'm not surprised. We already knew we were getting Miranda's crappy low-grade version of TLM rather than a remake of the real thing. It would be difficult to list the worst things that have happened with Disney the past 10 years, but his involvement with them is definitely in the top 10 for me. I'm glad Raya isn't a musical if the only way for it to be one would've meant he'd have been involved.

[disneyprincess11]

I just hope it’s the Moana/MPR pitter-patter style and not the Hamilton-style rapping. Of course it will be the latter, seeing who’s Sebastian. It was annoying enough to see Flounder beat-boxing (?????) in the third TLM

[TheSequelOfDisney]

Honestly, the "The newt play the flute, the carp play the harp..." section during "Under the Sea" is basically a rap so incorporating more into that song (or a new one) doesn't seem out of the blue to me. I feel like people are thinking we're going to get Jay-Z or Kanye or Eminem, and I really don't see that being the case. But I guess we'll just have to wait and see what they do.

Luckily the animated film isn't going anywhere.

[Disney's Divinity]

It was annoying enough to see Flounder beat-boxing (?????) in the third TLM

I forgot all about that. It's been a long while since I've watched any DTV sequels.

At least that wasn't marring one of Menken-Ashman's classics, but was a subpar original song. I would've thought Miranda's obligatory rapping would've been in one of his (subpar) originals here, too.