Disney’s live-action remake ofThe Little Mermaidis reportedly courting former Disney Channel star Zendaya to play the lead role as Ariel. The studio has been making a killing with their live-action remakes of their beloved animated classics.Dumbo,Aladdin,Mulan, andThe Lion Kingare all in various stages of production and it looks likeThe Little Mermaidwill be next on that list.Mary Poppins Returns director Rob Marshallis reportedly set to direct from a script by Jane Goldman and production is expected to take place in Puerto Rico and Cape Town Africa.
Disney and representatives forZendaya Colemanhave yet to respond to the reports about the actress taking on the role of Ariel inThe Little Mermaidlive-action remake, but the choice makes sense. Zendaya has a history with the studio and she has the singing voice needed to tackle the iconic songs from the animated classic. While Zendaya hasn’t been confirmed for the remake, Hamilton’sLin-Manuel Miranda is officially co-writing the music for the film with composer Alan Menken. Not a whole lot about the project is clear, but Menken and Miranda will more than likely write new songs to compliment some of the original music from the 1990 animated film.
Zendaya is currently in Europe filmingSpider-Man: Far From Homeand recently starred inThe Greatest Showmanalongside Hugh Jackman where she showcased her acting chops as well as her voice. She starred in two Disney Channel television series,Shake It UpandK.C. Undercoverwhile launching her pop music career.The Little Mermaidlive-action remake would easily be Zendaya’s biggest role to date. Again, this has yet to be confirmed by Zendaya or Disney at this time, so we’ll just have to wait and see what happens in regard to casting the remake.
While casting Zendaya asArielinThe Little Mermaidlive-action remake seems like a no-brainer for Disney, it could end up creating controversy for hiring a woman of color to take on the role of Ariel. Public outcry for accuracy from source material and actors has been a hot button topic for the last handful of years. Scarlett Johansson was recently caught in her own controversy when it was announced that she was going to portray a transgender man inRub & Tug. The actress ended up backing out of the project after LGBTQ activists began to criticize her for taking a role from a transgender actor.
The casting of Zendaya inThe Little Mermaidremake seems like a perfect idea, but there will more than likely be a backlash if and when an official announcement is made. For now, this is just a rumor, so hopefully the backlash doesn’t start prematurely. For now, we’ll just have to wait and see what Disney decides to do. The new report of Zendaya joining the cast ofThe Little Mermaidlive-action remake as Ariel was first revealed byThat Hashtag Show.
