‘Little Mermaid’ director Rob Marshall, star Halle Bailey praise original Ariel Jodi Benson's cameo in new film: 'Dream come true'
Marshall reveals how Benson's buzzy cameo came together saying, "Jodi's an old friend, so I've known her for a long time."
Warning: Minor The Little Mermaid spoilers ahead.
Call it a passing of the dinglehopper.
Beyond Halle Bailey’s powerhouse new rendition of “Part of Your World” and other musical favorites like “Under the Sea” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” some of the biggest cheers audiences are giving Disney’s new hit live action reboot of The Little Mermaid come after a cameo appearance that still not everyone in the theaters might recognize. (The film opened to a dominant $118 million over the holiday weekend.)
As Ariel (Bailey) and Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) visit a market during their day-long adventure around his coastal homeland, the now-human-legged mermaid is a handed a fork — otherwise called a dinglehopper by Ariel’s bird-brained friend Scuttle (Awkwafina) — by a friendly merchant. The reason moviegoers are gushing? The merchant is played by Jodi Benson, the beloved actress who voiced Ariel in the 1989 original animated version.
“Jodi’s an old friend, so I’ve known her for a long time,” director Rob Marshall explains when asked how the cameo came together. “I worked with her in the theater. I directed her in a production of Chess in Casa Ma?ana, Texas [in 1991]. This was a long time ago. So I’ve known her for [decades]. She's such a warm, beautiful person, and [producer John DeLuca] and I thought, ‘Well, we should really find some place for Jodi.’ And we said, 'Where can it feel natural?’ Obviously it can't feel stunty. And we thought, ‘Well, in the market, there’s sellers and vendors, that kind of thing.’
“And this scene was already written where somebody handed her a fork, and that fork is so iconic for Ariel. And I thought, ‘What if Jodi hands her the fork, the dinglehopper, and so it just felt organic. We wanted to give her something small but special. And she embraced this film immediately, and Halle's casting immediately, which was so generous. I mean, that's who she is. She's such a generous spirit, and having her on the set with us, everybody was just outta their minds, particularly Halle.”
Bailey attests to that.
“It was like a dream come true for me because Jodi Benson has been the soundtrack to all of our lives for so long,” Bailey says. “I felt this duty to make her proud, to make the lovers of the film proud. And she just said the kindest words to me that she's so proud of me and that God has placed me here for a reason and I just am so grateful to her for her support. 'Cause having her support makes me feel like, ‘OK, I made the original Ariel proud. I'm good.’”
“Even for me it was so special,” says Hauer-King. “[It was great] having that continuity between the two films. This film was always about reimagining, but also respecting the original. And it's so beautiful seeing [Halle and Jodi] together… Because they are both so Ariel in [their] own ways. It's just really special.”
The Little Mermaid is now playing.
Watch the trailer:
