The Little Mermaid director says Harry Styles turned film down for ‘darker’ roles

‘We met with him. He was lovely. What a wonderful guy,’ filmmaker said

Harry Styles was under consideration to play Prince Eric in the forthcoming live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, director Rob Marshall has said.

The Disney revival stars Halle Bailey in the titular role while relative newcomer Jonah Hauer-King will play her prince.

In a new interview with Entertainment Weekly, Marshall said that Styles turned the role down to focus on “darker” material.

“We met with him. He was lovely. What a wonderful guy,” the director said of Styles. “But at the end of the day, he really felt like he wanted to go off and do the movies that he ended up doing, which were sort of darker.

“For a lot of young musical people like Harry, you’re trying to carve your way and you don’t wanna be seen as a singer, necessarily,” Marshall added.

“That’s why he was really looking to do something not in the musical genre, to really stretch himself. It was really a fun idea to play with, but in the end, I always think things happen for a reason. I’m so happy to have two young, new people in the film.”

Styles has most recently played supporting roles in Olivia Wilde’s psychological thriller Don’t Worry Darling and the queer drama My Policeman.

Halle Bailey in ‘The Little Mermaid’ and Harry Styles (Disney/Getty Images)

The release of Wilde’s film was overshadowed by reports of behind-the-scenes drama, from Styles appearing to spit on his co-star Chris Pine at Venice Film Festival – something both parties denied had happened – to reports of a feud between Wilde and her lead, Florence Pugh.

Pine recently addressed the viral moment, acknowledging that while it looked like Styles spat on him, “he didn’t”.

Meanwhile, the release of The Little Mermaid has been met with racist backlash over the casting of Bailey as Ariel, who was originally drawn as white.

Addressing the criticism, Bailey told Edition magazine: “Seeing the world’s reaction to it was definitely a shock.

“But seeing all the babies’ reactions, all the brown and Black young girls, really tore me up emotionally,” she added.

The Little Mermaid is released in cinemas on 26 May.