‘The Little Mermaid’: Live-Action Adaptation to Complete Production in March!!

Disney‘s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey has been on the minds of many ever since it was first revealed. Now, only a few months away from its premiere date of May 26, 2023, fans are clamoring for new information about the upcoming film. Collider‘s own Taylor Gates had the chance to sit down with the director of the film, Rob Marshall, to discuss the 20th Anniversary of the 2002 musical Chicago and had the chance to touch on the upcoming project. It was during this interview that Marshall confirmed that the film is on track to be finished by March 2023.

During the interview, Gates asked Marshall about other works that he would want to adapt after finishing up with The Little Mermaid. Marshall struggles to answer the question, citing his inability to develop something while he is currently working on something else. He also cites the challenges of putting the upcoming film together since COVID interrupted production. He said:

“The Little Mermaid, that I’m just finishing up now, has taken four-and-a-half years. COVID just kind of, you know, came right in the middle. We were a week away from filming, and we shut down, and then we had to come back up again. It’s the most challenging film I’ve ever done because of the visuals and how to create that. I mean, every moment of the entire film is choreographed because it had to be because there’s no gravity. How do you do that? That was crazy. I mean, to figure out how we do that.”

After pondering the question, Marshall shared when his current project will be finished with post-production, confirming that The Little Mermaid will be completed sometime in March, saying:

“So I have to say that I’m now actually looking forward to answering that question in the next few months when I finish up. This film will be finished probably at the end of March. It will be fun to say, “Well, where do I want to go next? What world do I want to be part of? Where do I want to go?” And I try not to repeat myself. You know, I probably could have done ‘Chicago 2’, ‘3’ and ‘4’, but I was excited coming off of that film to go and do ‘Memoirs Of A Geisha’, as an example, and just kind of go to a whole different culture and a different place and different actors. Because it’s your life, you spend so much time working on these things, you want a different experience. So, I don’t know what that’s going to be. It’s a very good question, but I’m excited to find out.”

Who Else Is Working On The Little Mermaid

Marshall will be directing from a screenplay written by Jane Goldman, who has previously worked on X-Men films like X-Men First Class as well as the Kingsman films, and Academy Award nominee David Magee of Life of Pi fame. The film is also set to feature the original soundtrack with four new songs composed by Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. In addition to Bailey as Ariel, the announced cast of the film also includes Jacob Tremblay as Flounder, Awkwafina as Scuttle, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, and Noma Dumezweni as a completely new character, Queen Selina.