A live-action adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid was never going to be easy, but the latest behind-the-scenes footage for the movie shows just how challenging it was for Prince Eric actor Jonah Hauer-King to bring his charming character to life.
Prince Eric, as we know, has a passion for sailing. Hauer-King by extension must also be able to convince us he knows what he’s doing on a boat. Enter: Boat training. Since his character also gets tossed off of more than one boat in the movie, Hauer-King was also privy to some proper stunt training. Then, of course, there was voice training (because you can’t have a Disney prince without a set of silky smooth pipes) and dog training because making a Little Mermaid movie without Max is blasphemous. Oh, and gym training because — hello! — this is a Disney prince we’re talking about.
All in all, Hauer-King underwent a whopping five training classes to bring us the Prince Eric of our dreams. That’s Disney dedication at its finest, folks.
“There was a lot of training to play the characters. There was stunt training, boat training, voice training, dog training, gym training. I just — I feel so trained!”
One of the many classes Hauer-King did not have to participate in was dialect training, as the English actor already sports the swoon-worthy accent needed to pull off the hopeless romantic’s intonation. Although he’s been in a number of films in the past (A Dog’s Way Home, This Is the Night) The Little Mermaid is by far his biggest role to date.
Early discussion over who would play the part of Prince Eric originally included rockstar and universal heartthrob Harry Styles, however, Styles eventually turned down the part to focus his energy on music (which was a smart move given his dedicated attention gave birth to Harry’s House, which won Album Of The Year at the 2023 Grammys).
Although the movie is embroiled in a heated debate over the quality of its CGI, the dimly lit scenes that make it hard to see, and racist backlash from so-called fans over Halle Bailey’s casting, The Little Mermaid is indeed one of the most anticipated films of 2023. Hauer-King, if he’s lucky, might be a part of the first Disney live-action remake to actually get it right. Now all that’s left to do is watch as the chips fall where they may.
The Little Mermaid makes its theatrical splash in theaters across the world on May 26.
