‘The Little Mermaid’ stars Awkwafina, Daveed Diggs and Jacob Tremblay sat down with Narcity’s Brooke Houghton to talk about the live-action remake and what it was like playing their respective roles as Scuttle, Sebastian and Flounder. The cast also talked about working with Lin-Manuel Miranda on the film’s new songs, the public reaction to Flounder’s live-action design and what it means to bring a Disney classic back to a whole new generation.
Category
🏖
TravelTranscript
00:00The relationships really come through in this one, to me.
00:02That's the biggest difference.
00:04Yeah, and I think the best remakes really,
00:06they, you know, touch upon things that we loved
00:10about the original, but also stand on their own
00:12in this kind of new way.
00:14I'm so excited to dive on in today.
00:17Awesome, us too.
00:19My first question is for Awkwafina and David.
00:21You know, this version of The Little Mermaid
00:23has brand new songs and an incredible rap track.
00:25Walk me through the process of creating
00:27and recording Scuttlebutt.
00:28I actually didn't know at first that Scuttle
00:31was going to have that song.
00:32And I remember Lin was writing it.
00:35It was just like really fun
00:37because it has Lin-Manuel all over it.
00:39You know what I mean?
00:40And I'm such a fan of him.
00:41And to like perform something that was like
00:43an original thing was just an honor.
00:46I love it.
00:46And then my next question is for you, Jacob.
00:48You play such a lovable and adorable flounder,
00:51but I want to know, what did you think
00:53about the public's reactions to flounder's
00:55kind of live action presence?
00:56Well, I saw the design a long time ago.
00:59Actually, when I went in for the audition,
01:01Rob had showed me and I thought it was really cool.
01:03And obviously when we're on set together,
01:05we had seen all the designs
01:06and see how they work with the puppets.
01:08Cause I think they had a flounder that was like
01:10kind of like a spring almost,
01:12where it could kind of wiggle like that.
01:13I thought it was really cool.
01:14And obviously watching the movie,
01:16I thought it worked so well.
01:17And you know, I'm excited for people to see the movie
01:21and then see their reactions
01:23because I think it genuinely works really well.
01:25And I really couldn't imagine it a different way.
01:29To be throwing it back to you,
01:30you're such comedic relief in this role.
01:32Sebastian is hilarious.
01:33You know, how did you put your own spin on this character?
01:36I mean, I, you know, I love Sebastian,
01:38the original Sebastian.
01:39So I tried to like not watch it very much
01:44so that I would have a bunch of misrememberings
01:46of that brilliant performance.
01:48And then just so much of it became about
01:51like what worked for this company
01:52and understanding how this story was unfolding
01:54and like what my voice is capable of doing.
01:57We were given so much freedom to play
01:59that it felt less like putting a spin
02:03on a thing that existed
02:04and more just like this is who Sebastian is in this movie.
02:08You know, like this, it was just like,
02:10that's once we found him, it was like,
02:11yep, that's him.
02:12And that's where he existed.
02:15Well, we definitely love him.
02:16And what do you think the biggest changes are
02:17that viewers are gonna see
02:18when they're kind of comparing your version
02:20to the original?
02:21Oh, I don't know.
02:23I mean, I think this whole film does a thing
02:27because of the live action-ness of it
02:29and because of all of the amazing performances
02:32and how captivating and real Halle is really.
02:37Like it grounds everything.
02:40Obviously the sort of photorealistic animals,
02:42but I think it makes you really aware
02:44of the relationships in a way
02:45that the original one doesn't do as much.
02:48Like the original one is unbelievable.
02:50But I think, you know,
02:51the relationships really come through in this one.
02:53To me, that's the biggest difference.
02:55Yeah, and I think the best remakes really,
02:58they, you know, touch upon things
03:01that we loved about the original,
03:02but also stand on their own in this kind of new way.
03:05I think it really does uphold the things
03:08that we remember as children,
03:09but also it's like an entirely new story
03:11with like, it was kind of scary at times.
03:14Like with like some of the,
03:16when we go down deep into Ursula's lair,
03:19like that was like scary.
03:20I was like, it's scary.
03:21You understand why she's mean too.
03:23Like, you know, you'd start being like,
03:25oh man, she's like damaged.
03:27You know, like this.
03:27Yeah, they added in that brother, sister.
03:29Yeah, which is scary.
03:30How does it feel to bring
03:32an old Disney classic back to life?
03:34It was great because what's cool about it
03:37is that not only do we get to create it
03:39for the older audiences who grew up with the original,
03:42but we get to also reintroduce it to younger audiences.
03:45And it's cool to kind of see them side by side.
03:48What's cool about it for the older audiences
03:50is that they get to see their beloved characters
03:52kind of, but in more in depth, I would say.
03:56Amazing.
03:56Well, thank you guys so much for your time today
03:58and congratulations.
03:58So excited for people to see the movie.
04:02Thanks for watching.
04:02If you enjoyed this video,
04:04please like and subscribe to our Nercity channel
04:06to see more content just like this.