Harry Styles has passed on playing Prince Eric in The Little Mermaid

By Kevin Fraser

Posted 7 years ago

Last Updated on July 30, 2021

Update: According to The Wrap, Disney will need to look elsewhere for Prince Eric as Harry Styles has decided to pass on the role. Reports of Styles' casting earlier today were premature and sources have said that while the singer/actor is a fan of the project, he chose to respectfully decline. Disney is already looking at other actors and a decision should arrive before too long.

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Disney's onslaught of live-action adaptations of their animated classics continues, and one of the many in the works is THE LITTLE MERMAID. Just two weeks ago Halle Bailey (Grown-ish) signed on to play Ariel, the mermaid princess who dreams of becoming human, and now we may know who will be playing her human love, Prince Eric.

It seems that Harry Styles is currently in early negotiations to play Prince Eric, but Variety's Justin Kroll cautioned on Twitter that talks are still in the "very early" stages that that Styles "still may be on the fence." The former One Direction star made his acting debut in Christopher Nolan's DUNKIRK, and was also one of several actors up for the part of Elvis in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming biopic before Austin Butler walked away with the role. In addition to Styles and Bailey, THE LITTLE MERMAID will also star Melissa McCarthy (THE KITCHEN) as Ariel's evil aunt Ursula. There's also been talk of Jacob Tremblay (GOOD BOYS) voicing Flounder and Awkwafina (JUMANJIA: THE NEXT LEVEL) voicing Scuttle. THE LITTLE MERMAID will be directed by Rob Marshall (MARY POPPINS RETURNS) with original composer Alan Menken returning to score new tunes with lyrics by Lin-Manuel Miranda. Production on THE LITTLE MERMAID is expected to hit off April 2020.

We've already seen several of Disney's live-action adaptations this year, including Tim Burton's DUMBO and Guy Ritchie's ALADDIN, and we've got Jon Favreau's THE LION KING set to hit theaters on July 29th. Be sure to check out a review from our own Matt Rooney!

Source: Variety

Tags: Adventure, Family, Halle Bailey, Harry Styles, Musical, Rob Marshall, Romance, The Little Mermaid

About the Author

Kevin Fraser

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Favorite Movies: Alien, The Assassination of Jesse James by the Coward Robert Ford, read more Braveheart, The Bridge on the River Kwai, City of God, Cloud Atlas, Creature from the Black Lagoon, The Edge, The Fifth Element, Galaxy Quest, The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo, The Godfather Parts I & II, Goodfellas, The Good the Bad and the Ugly, Gladiator, Lawrence of Arabia, The Lord of the Rings Trilogy, The Magnificent Seven, Monty Python and the Holy Grail, Perfume: The Story of a Murderer, The Prestige, Prisoners, Psycho, Raiders of the Lost Ark, Rear Window, The Shining, Sorcerer, The Talented Mr. Ripley, There Will be Blood, The Treasure of the Sierra Madre, Zodiac

Likes: Drawing, cooking, watching movies, trying and failing to come up with read more more items for my likes list.

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