We met director Rob Marshall and composer Alan Menken at a press conference, columns of the Disney remake from life of The Little Mermaid, in cinemas from May 22nd.
In cinemas from May 22, the remake dal vero of the Disney classic The little Mermaid represented two types of challenges different: for the director Rob Marshall and for the coproducer John DeLuca it was about tackling a revered work, while for the composer Alan Menken it was about recovering and re-reading his own musical past. At the press conference all three discussed their demanding but above all highly collaborative work on The Little Mermaid…
The little mermaid, reinventing the past
After four years of work, Rob Marshall, Alan Menken, John DeLuca and the same cast were very excited at the American preview of the new one The little Mermaid. They were particularly amazed at how the audience present there was so focused on the film and less disoriented by the glamor of the situation, as happens in these cases.
Rob, whose resume has film musicals such as Chicago e Into the Woodsit is believed “very supported by Disney“, especially in such a delicate operation: “Actually they wanted us to reinvent, they didn’t want a carbon copy. (…) This was a big film with a big budget, but I didn’t have it never transmitted voltage. They respect the artists, I feel at home. (…) Disney gives you the freedom to take a chance with the musicalit’s a difficult genre, because the songs don’t have to come from nowhere, otherwise you risk the sketch comedy effect. Structure matters.” At the top is a quote from Andersen’s fairy tale: it was strongly desired by Marshall, because re-reading the 1830 text he found that “contemporary even then”, and the idea that the siren “without tears suffers the most” was a great way to start the film on the highest note of emotion.
Speaking of notes, the soundtrack features three new songsand it was naturally Alan Menken to put them to music, on words by lin manuel mirandawhich took the place of the late Howard Ashman, which Alan reiterates that he missed, as is normal. The places to insert new songs are found in the rhythm of the new script. The piece written for Eric they conceived it for example as a hymn of love not only to Ariel but to the sea itself. Different strategy for the piece that Ariel “sings” when she lands on dry land: at that moment he has no voice, so as spectators we have the privilege of hearing his inner voice. The comedian”Scuttlebrat” sung by Scuttle was born from the idea of composing a Caribbean rhythm, on which Miranda wrote a rap in his style. Only regret, the suppression of a song for the King Triton Of Javier Bardem.
But how does a multi-Oscar winner like Menken write the pieces? “Write for the character and for the specific moment in the story. ‘Part of your world’ for example was born with the idea of flowing water, of abandonment.” And that’s how it works: you set a form for the piece, then you let yourself go and experiment in that structure. “You have to be ready to throw away important thingsif others think it doesn’t work.” He gives the example of a song he threw away, written for Hercules: “Shooting Star”. It was too sweet, something harder was needed, and “Go the Distance” was born.
The Little Mermaid, the working method for the remake
An assessment is unanimous: The little Mermaid it was a collegial work, nothing was lowered from above. There was also a lot spontaneitylike when they instinctively decided to write Halle Bailey as Ariel. “After five minutes we had already found Ariel. We saw a lot of actresses afterwards, but we came back to her, he really requested her role for her “. The delicate and revealing test came right with the execution of”Part of Your World“, sung immediately very well, although Halle even said she was nervous from the freedom to reinterpret it that they had granted. But Menken is like this: “I don’t intimidate, even if my role can intimidate. I pass notes, then I let myself be free, if I’m not convinced I’ll tell you something. (…) Being completely flexible is the key to getting the results you aim for. (…) There was real emotion on his face. Sure I missed Howard’s reaction, but Halle captured (Ariel’s) innocence.”
Not all of the film’s scenes were so easy to re-read: the musical number of “Under the Sea / In bottom of the sea” intimidated everyone, so much so that – they admit – they kept putting it off, knowing how high the expectations. Furthermore, he only envisaged Halle / Ariel staged from life, the rest had to be invented, with caution. A little idea was graft Ariel’s voice to the piecewhile in the original he only attended the performance of Sebastian and the other inhabitants of the sea.
The actors had their difficultiesbecause in the marine scenes they almost always acted hanging from the so-called “wires“, ai cables which were remote controlled by stunt coordinators, also called a interpret the choreography together with the actors. Besides several sequences have been a mosaic of very short shotsbecause not all the evolutions of mermaids and mermen could be filmed with the same type of harness, which had to be changed several times within a single scene.
Then of course there was the artistic challenge and less technical: sing, when not all of the cast had experience in this matter. Marshall enjoys: “They all wanted to sing actually, they were intimidated but also excited. For me singing in a musical is theextension of acting. (Is it true that he rehearses for theater before filming?) Movie musicals are already a hybrid of theater and cinema. My job is to protect the actors, you have to give them the chance to be wrong, that’s when you create intimacy. The set is always an intimate place after all, even if a film is a big production”.
Why the filmed in Sardinia? Although according to John the real motivation for the choice is lobster pasta, more seriously the director and producer explain that a place was needed that had both a small beach and enough rock formations, again to pay homage to Andersen’s roots.
