The Little Mermaid star Jonah Hauer-King has opened up on the ‘terrifying’ challenge of debuting a new song in the role of Prince Eric.
In the 1989 classic animated version of the film, Eric is a non-singing part, and the film was widely applauded for its songs Part of Your World, Under the Sea, Poor Unfortunate Souls and Kiss the Girl, written by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman.
The movie’s overall score and Under the Sea were even recognised with Academy Awards.
However, for the 2023 live-action reimagining of The Little Mermaid, composer Menken teamed up with Hamilton and Moana music man Lin-Manuel Miranda, following Ashman’s untimely death in 1991.
Together, they have come up with three brand-new songs to expand the movie’s musical soundscape, including Wild Uncharted Waters for Eric.
Hauer-King, 27, reflected on the challenge of singing in the film, especially next to his co-star, Halle Bailey.
Jonah Hauer-King takes centre stage with Prince Eric’s new song Wild Unchartered Waters (Picture: Neil Mockford/FilmMagic)
He and co-star Halle Bailey as Ariel (L) bond over their characters’ shared sense of adventure (Picture: Disney)
‘[It was] terrifying! For loads of reasons,’ he admitted.
‘I mean, Halle’s a Grammy-nominated artist and so singing next to her was terrifying.
‘Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda, I’ve grown up with them. Alan, in particular, soundtracked my childhood.’
Menken is one of Disney’s most prolific collaborators, also producing the music for films including Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, Pocahontas, Enchanted and Tangled.
The Little Women and World on Fire actor added: ‘But it was an honour and they wrote a beautiful song and I basically just tried not to ruin it… that was the goal!’
The pair during the Kiss The Girl scene, which has also been reimagined (Picture: Disney)
Jonah and Halle at the UK premiere on Monday night in London’s Leicester Square (Picture: Neil Mockford/FilmMagic)
Discussing the meaning behind his song previously, Hauer-King told Empire magazine: ‘It’s a call-out to the girl that saved him. They’re both looking for adventure, to other worlds.’
In the new and updated version of The Little Mermaid, the pair bond thanks to their shared sense of adventure, with Eric a keen seafarer, happy on the waves, and Ariel a land-loving mermaid, keen to know more about the human world.
Halle has also already promised fans a modern mermaid who wouldn’t ‘leave the ocean for a boy’.
‘It’s way bigger than that. It’s about herself, her purpose, her freedom, her life and what she wants,’ she explained to Edition magazine.
The Grammy-nominated singer also reflected on the public response to the first look trailer for the film that showed her in costume, admitting she was ‘shocked’.
(L-R) The actor with castmates Jacob Tremblay, Melissa McCarthy, Halle, director Rob Marshall, Javier Bardem and Daveed Diggs at the UK Premiere of Disney’s The Little Mermaid (Picture: Getty)
She said: ‘Seeing the world’s reaction to it was definitely a shock, but seeing all the babies’ reactions, all the brown and Black young girls, really tore me up emotionally.
‘It’s honestly been such a crazy ride, and I genuinely feel shocked and honored and grateful to be in this position. A lot of times, I have to pinch myself and be like, is this real life?’
The Little Mermaid splashes into cinemas on Friday, May 26.
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Eric was previously a non-singing role.
