The Little Mermaid (Live-Action)

[Sotiris]

Q: We're so excited for The Little Mermaid. Any surprises?

Lin-Manuel Miranda: There are new songs for The Little Mermaid. Halle Bailey is going to be such an incredible Ariel. Getting to write music for these characters that are probably the reason I started writing musicals in the first place, was actually easier than I thought. The hardest part was my own intimidation working with Alan Menken and that was entirely self-imposed. But when it came to how these characters speak and what they say, I've known that all my life. So that was a joy.

Source: https://www.etonline.com/the-little-mer ... -exclusive

[Disney's Divinity]

Yeah, yeah, sure, we'll see. He's never been one to lack for confidence, that's for sure.

[Sotiris]

Huh. I guess they're aren't looking at people who look like Halle Bailey. There was a rumor going around that Halle's sister was going to be playing Vanessa. I always saw Vanessa as a brunette Ariel (they certainly look alike in terms of design) and believed it intentional on Ursula's part. That's she transformed into someone who resembled Ariel to fool Eric. I'm not sure if that's canon though.

Disney has reportedly had meetings via Zoom with American singer-songwriter and six-time Grammy winner Kacey Musgraves for a role in Disney’s highly-anticipated live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. The role we hear she is circling for is Vanessa, the human persona that Ursula transformed into leading to the climax of the second act, creating conflict in the third act, “the end” of The Little Mermaid to stop Ariel from fulfilling the deal with Eric. Through her involvement on the project could be entirely different. I’ve had a number of people confirm this but couldn’t get a confirmation on whether or not these meetings have gone anywhere at this point, so it should be noted there is a chance she could have passed. Filming is expected to start production this Summer at Pinewood Studios in London.

Source: https://thedisinsider.com/2020/07/23/ex ... e-mermaid/

[Disney's Divinity]

One, I would LOOOVE Kacey Musgraves to play the part. I love, love, love her. It's kind of a nothing of a role, so it doesn't really matter if she isn't the greatest actor. All you have to do is act like a hateful biatch the whole time. The only thing that'll take effort is the song and dance in front of the mirror. I can perfectly imagine her voice singing "Poor Souls (Reprise)" the more I think about it. If they're casting her, it likely means Bailey won't be singing as Vanessa either, as Benson does in the original.

Two, I would love this news even more because I really don't want Vanessa excised out of the plot the way she was in the musical. The reason Ursula is a powerful villain is she's very active in the storyline. A Vanessa-less movie is bound to be weaker. Ursula being absent for so long wouldn't be good for the story at all.

So... I'm hoping and praying it's true.

[blackcauldron85]

I agree--I've always assumed Ursula made herself look like Ariel on purpose. I never would have thought of her myself, but I think that Kasey would make a great Vanessa, too!

[JeanGreyForever]

I agree--I've always assumed Ursula made herself look like Ariel on purpose.

I always thought that as well. Especially since Eric's memory of his mermaid savior was when the sunlight was pouring over her so her hair even looks like it could be brown like Vanessa's. Not to mention, many speculated that Vanessa was the true form of Ursula when she was a mermaid (particularly if she was Triton's sister like originally intended).

[Disney Duster]

Ursula doesn't look a thing like Vanessa if she was just an older-looking Vanessa. I'm in the camp that says she made herself look like Eric's sun-drenched glimpse of Ariel.

[Atlantica]

100% agree; the glimpse that Eric got of Ariel on the beach meant that Vanessa could 100% pass for her. But the voice needs to be the same though, surely ? As that's what part of the whole spell; Ariel's voice literally pierces through him so much that he can't get it out of his head.

[Disney's Divinity]

I thought there were more people who didn’t think Vanessa looked anything like Ariel when there was an argument about it earlier in this thread. Strange. I’ve always been consistent that she does. Either way, this re-make has been so disappointing so far, I’ll just be grateful to have someone I like like Kacey in a role for a change, even if she doesn’t look like Bailey or that Ariel’s voice technically should be Vanessa’s voice. What I’ve seen of Bailey on Black-ish, I’m not sure how much personality she’ll have here… She comes across a bit lifeless like Lily James was, so I’m not sure she’ll even be able to fill out Ariel completely, much less successfully play a piece of Ursula’s dialogue.

[Old Fish Tale]

She's 10 years older than Halle. How is it going to work?

[UmbrellaFish]

I don’t think Vanessa looks anything like Ariel besides sharing a similar silhouette. There are fan edits online where Ariel and Vanessa’s features are swapped and you can tell they are designed distinctly differently.

Anyway, in the original movie Eric is hypnotized by Vanessa using Ariel’s voice before he sees her face. Thus in terms of the plot it is not important that the characters look any way alike— and nobody in the movie seems to think Ariel and Vanessa look alike, either, otherwise one might expect someone like Grimsby to remark upon the resemblance. If Ariel or Sebastian thought Vanessa was her double, it might have clued them to Ursula’s evil plans earlier, too, or at least raised suspicions.

I think Ursula chose that specific form because it made her look like a more conventional match for Prince Eric to outsiders.

[Farerb]

I never thought they looked the same. I even think it was said here that Vanessa is more angular (like Ursula's face) and Ariel is more round. Belle looks more like Ariel than Vanessa does. It reminds me of a friend of mine that told me that he thought they used the same face for all the princesses and only changed their hair.

[Disney Duster]

You guys! Yes, Ariel and Vanessa look different, but they also look alike! They don't look the same, but alike, that's the point. Big eyes, long hair darker than blonde, and skinny.

If Ursula isn't trying to look like Ariel there is a curious fat shaming questionability. I mean, I don't have a problem with it, big can be beautiful, but, yeah.

[nomad2010]

I don’t know, even as a kid, it was always clear to me Vanessa was designed to resemble what Eric saw as Ariel sang to him. Her hair looks indistinguishably dark due to the sun, and thus they chose the brown. And if you look during that scene, you can tell they altered the color of Ariel’s just slightly so it does look brown to Eric. And Vanessa’s features are Ariel’s but harsher and more angular, to give her that evil feel but just sweet and pretty enough to resemble what he thought he saw. I’m confused what the point is of casting someone who doesn’t look like Bailey then unless they’re just going the Broadway route but somehow incorporating the form of Vanessa? It’s a little baffling to me. But all of the remakes have had choices like that with the exception of Cinderella.

[UmbrellaFish]

But if you watch the scene in the film, you will note that Eric is hypnotized before he can see any detail of Vanessa’s face as it is obscured by the fog. All he sees is her silhouette and all he hears is Ariel’s voice which captures his attention. But then, he is hypnotized by Ursula’s magic and that spell doesn’t break until Ariel crushes Ursula’s nautilus shell and regains her voice. And how would Ursula know what Ariel looked like to Prince Eric on the beach? The film doesn’t support the claim that Ursula can read someone’s mind or memory like that, and Prince Eric never describes his rescuer as a brunette or anything so she could not have overheard it on her crystal ball... although I suppose you could argue that such a scene could plausibly occur off-camera. But I don’t buy it, and in any case it’s clear that no character recognizes Vanessa as looking similar to Ariel, and Prince Eric is hypnotized before he can see her face anyway so that point is moot. If a live-action movie follows the plot of the original movie, all that matters is a feminine silhouette (any difference in hairstyle could be covered by a hood) and Vanessa and Ariel sharing the same voice— which is where I’m confused, because that’s the crucial point of Vanessa, that she speaks and sings with Ariel’s stolen voice to hypnotize Eric. So why would you cast a name recording artist in this role unless you were going to change that plot point?

[Farerb]

There's always the option that Vanessa is not Ursula in disguise but another woman who wants Eric.

[tsom]

You guys, Jodi Benson also voiced Vanessa. That tells you Vanessa is basically supposed to be “Evil Ariel.” I have no doubt that she’s supposed to be Ariel’s alter ego. The character resembles what Eric saw when he was saved from drowning as he slowly regains consciousness. Vanessa is basically Ariel with dark hair and larger eyes.

[UmbrellaFish]

And if Vanessa having brunette hair is supposed to match Eric’s vision of the girl who saved him, why does he initially think Ariel (with her bright red hair) is the one who saved him when he finds her washed up on the beach? I think the only real detail he remembers is her voice.

I will die on this hill that the characters do not look alike in any meaningful way (sure, they are drawn with the same in-house Disney style, but as farerb said, Ariel looks more like Belle than Vanessa... Vanessa is all angles, her skin tone is more olive, her face is longer, her eyes are shaped differently) and even if they did look alike it’s not necessary to the plot either because Eric is hypnotized by Ariel’s voice before he clearly sees Vanessa’s face.

[DisneyBluLife]

You guys, Jodi Benson also voiced Vanessa. That tells you Vanessa is basically supposed to be “Evil Ariel.” I have no doubt that she’s supposed to be Ariel’s alter ego. The character resembles what Eric saw when he was saved from drowning as he slowly regains consciousness. Vanessa is basically Ariel with dark hair and larger eyes.

That is not a good reason, sorry. They could not cast anyone else.
She was voiced by Jodi Benson because Ursula had Ariel's voice. That doesn't mean they cast her to be evil Ariel, she was told to act like Ursula. Ursula is evil and has Ariel's voice, which happens to be Jodi Benson's voice. That is why Jodi Benson does Vanessa's voice for a time, when Ariel gets her voice back. Vanessa is voiced by Ursula's voice actress and not Jodi Benson.

[Sotiris]

If a live-action movie follows the plot of the original movie, all that matters is a feminine silhouette (any difference in hairstyle could be covered by a hood) and Vanessa and Ariel sharing the same voice— which is where I’m confused, because that’s the crucial point of Vanessa, that she speaks and sings with Ariel’s stolen voice to hypnotize Eric. So why would you cast a name recording artist in this role unless you were going to change that plot point?

Well, there are two possibilities; they're either changing that plot point or that casting is bogus. It's possible they'll make Vanessa into a human rival and not Ursula in disguise like farerb said which is more in line with the original fairytale. Personally, I don't like that option since it diminishes Ursula's role and involvement with Ariel's story. If they go that route, they might as well go all the way and not make Ursula a villain at all.