Interview with Director Rob Marshall and Alan Menken of Disney Pixar's The Little Mermaid
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00:00 Eric had nothing. It was such a simple sort of wooden character from the original.
00:04 And anybody, I mean even Alan Macon would agree to that. I mean they all would say,
00:08 "Yeah, that wasn't developed." And so finding his journey, finding his story,
00:12 creating his mother, the character of the Queen, understanding that he doesn't feel like he fits
00:18 in either. There's these similarities between the two worlds. His parent isn't understanding
00:25 what he wants in the world, limiting him to not being able to do what he wants to do.
00:31 He sees something, a vision past his small world, so does Ariel. And then we realized,
00:39 of course, he needs a song. Like what's his "I Want?" What's his journey? So all these things,
00:45 really, that felt like that whole portion of the story was that we were able to bring to life in a
00:53 much fuller way. I love it. It starts in a really roiling, you know, intimate place and then it
01:06 builds and builds and builds. So it's really the build of it, you know. All I ever wanted.
01:20 And by the end you're at the "World Uncharted" and he's just full tilt and it really introduces
01:28 you to a whole other color of Prince Eric. I mean that's, he's so three-dimensional now.
01:34 And in the original, he's a little bit of a, you know, he serves his function
01:40 and it's lovely, but this is, you know, really three-dimensional.