It has been confirmed that Harry Styles will not be part of Ariel's world! A recent report states that the former One Direction singer has politely declined to be part of the Little Mermaid's live-action film after reports of him being confirmed for the role was stated by studios.
Early on Tuesday, two big movie theatre chains tweeted in the excitement that Harry Styles did sign the dotted lines to be the new age Prince Eric in the Little Mermaid live action. This did spark a lot of fervour and anticipation on Twitter. However, the whole emotion was short-lived as the theatre chains deleted the tweets as Harry declined the role later.
"While [Harry] is a fan of the project he has respectfully declined the offer," said a source to E! News. Ever since reports of Halle Bailey being confirmed to play Ariel in the live-action was announced, Harry Styles' name continued to be associated with the project. Perhaps the makers really wanted the actor to come on board for the film. Several reports suggested the possibility of Harry Styles to take up the role of the dreamy Prince Eric in the live-action and of course, romance Halle Bailey.
Apart from Halle Bailey, currently the only other two roped in with confirmed reports are Awkwafina and Javier Bardem. Even Melissa McCarthy and Jacob Tremblay's association with the project is still uncertain. There has been a word about McCarthy being roped in to play the evil Ursula. However, neither of the actors has confirmed their part in the film.
Harry Styles recently ventured out of his comfort zone of being a singer to become an actor. He made his acting debut in Christopher Nolan's war drama, Dunkirk. There were reports stating that Styles was eyeing for the role of Elvis Presley in Baz Luhrmann's upcoming biopic about the legend. However, the role eventually went to Austin Butler. And now, there is another sad report of Styles not being a part of the Little Mermaid, that fans will have to deal with.
The Little Mermaid is being directed by Rob Marshall and produced by John DeLuca, Marc Platt and Lin-Manuel Miranda. David Magee of Mary Poppins Returns fame, will be penning down the script for the film. As for the music, apart from the classic original songs which featured in the 1989 film by Alan Menken and Howard Ashman, some new additions will also be made to the playlist with lyrics by Miranda.
