How Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides influenced The Little Mermaid
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Rob Marshall and John DeLuca are no stranger to mermaids.
Before being tasked with cultivating an underwater kingdom of mer-folk for The Little Mermaid, the director and producer had already worked to bring these mythic sea sirens to the screen on a different film.
In 2011's Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, helmed by Marshall for Walt Disney Pictures, the filmmakers created a sequence in which Blackbeard (Ian McShane) commands his crew to capture a mermaid. He needs a single tear from one of the aquatic beauties in order to unlock the wonders of the Fountain of Youth.
It's a scene that, years later, would have a substantial impact on The Little Mermaid. "We spent so much time on it," DeLuca tells EW of the mermaids from Pirates. "Never did we ever think we'd do a whole underwater film. We learned a lot from that."
Peter Mountain/Walt Disney Pictures/Everett The mermaid scene from 'Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides'
One could say, with the benefit of hindsight, that their work on Pirates foreshadowed The Little Mermaid, as it features many of the same elements. There's a mix of live-action and CGI in the scene where Tamara (Gemma Ward), the first mermaid to emerge from Whitecap Bay, enthralls the pirate Scrum (Stephen Graham). There's even a mini musical number: the haunting siren song "Jolly Sailor Bold."
Marshall and DeLuca shared the footage from that film with the crew on The Little Mermaid, calling it "a great launching point for us."
"I wanted people to see what we had done. Obviously, it's a different kind of mermaid, but we were all trying to figure out how visually we create the tails, even the iridescent skin, all of that," Marshall explains. "That [Pirates scene] already had our taste in terms of look and what you can achieve. We were explaining how we achieved it, too — when we were using visual effects, when we were using some kind of costumes, and things like that. We just broke it down with our entire team. That was really actually helpful."
Peter Mountain/Walt Disney Pictures/Everett Mermaids rise from the depths in the fourth 'Pirates of the Caribbean' movie
Oscar-winning costume designer Colleen Atwood — who worked with Marshall and DeLuca on 2014's Into the Woods, 2009's Nine, 2005's Memoirs of a Geisha, and 2002's Chicago — helped give the mer-people a lighter touch on The Little Mermaid.
According to Marshall, Atwood used real fish as reference points for the individual mermaids. "Real fish already have these beautiful markings and colors and shapes," he says.
Ariel and her siblings are named the Sisters of the Seven Seas in the new film. Each one looks after a different ocean, and they all return home to Triton's (Javier Bardem) kingdom with each coral moon.
Towards the beginning of the movie, after audiences are introduced to Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and his world above the water, the camera plunges to the bottom of the ocean where the sisters are swimming towards Triton's castle. Each of the king's daughters are followed by a train of fish — the same kinds of fish that inspired the look of their respective mermaid.
Disney Halle Bailey's Ariel takes center stage in Disney's live-action remake of 'The Little Mermaid'
Marshall considers the mermaids of Pirates 4 as his dry run for this Disney tale.
"That was just one section and this, obviously, is an entire film about that world," he says. "It was actually very helpful to have worked with actors playing those roles. What was real in water? What was not in water? When were we full CG? When were we just parts and pieces? It was the technical blueprint to take us into this next level."
The Little Mermaid — which also stars Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, and Jacob Tremblay — opens in theaters May 26.
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