'The Little Mermaid' Director And Alan Menken Get Blunt About The Animated Prince Eric Very Much Needing Revising For The Live-action Version

Interview with Director Rob Marshall and Alan Menken of Disney Pixar's The Little Mermaid

Transcript

00:00 Eric had nothing, so it was such a simple, sort of wooden character from the original

00:04 and anybody, I mean even Alan Menken would agree to that.

00:07 They all would say, "Yeah, that wasn't developed."

00:09 And so finding his journey, finding his story, creating his mother, the character of the

00:15 Queen, understanding that he doesn't feel like he fits in either.

00:19 There's these similarities between the two worlds.

00:23 His parent isn't understanding what he wants in the world, limiting him to not being able

00:29 to do what he wants to do.

00:31 He sees something, a vision past his small world, so does Ariel.

00:39 And then we realize, of course, he needs a song.

00:41 Like what's his "I want?"

00:43 What's his journey?

00:44 So all these things, really, that felt like that whole portion of the story was that we

00:51 were able to bring to life in a much fuller way.

00:54 "A siren that guides me to royal uncharted waters."

01:01 It starts in a really roiling, intimate place and then it builds and builds and builds.

01:07 So it's really the build of it.

01:09 "All I ever wanted."

01:14 And by the end you're at the royal uncharted waters and he's just full tilt and it really

01:27 introduces you to a whole other color of Prince Eric.

01:32 He's so three-dimensional now.

01:35 And in the original, he's a little bit of a, you know, he serves his function.

01:43 And it's lovely, but this is really three-dimensional.

01:47 dimensional.

01:47 (upbeat music)