The Oscar-winning 1989 animated movie is getting a live-action remake.
Disney seems to absolutely love Awkwafina right now.
Maybe best known for her supporting roles in the likes of Ocean’s 8 and Crazy Rich Asians, it feels like Awkwafina has been on Disney’s speed dial lately, having appeared earlier this year in their animated hit Raya and the Last Dragon, and about to be seen in their huge Marvel blockbuster, Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings.
And as if that wasn’t enough, one of the big entries on her upcoming CV is none other than the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid.
The guys at JOE caught up with the actress in the run-up to the movie’s release, as well as her Simu Liu (interview here), as well as the movie’s director and co-writer, Destin Daniel Cretton (which you can watch here).
Over the course of our chat with Awkwafina, we discussed her driving stunts in the Marvel movie, the future of her character in the MCU, and loads more. You can check out the interview in full right here:
While most of the interview did revolve around Shang-Chi, we had to ask about her next Disney project, The Little Mermaid.
Awkwafina will be voicing Scuttle, the loveable seagull who seems to be a little more knowledgable of life on dry land. The new movie will be directed by Rob Marshall (Chicago, Mary Poppins Returns), and the rest of the cast will be filled by the likes of Javier Barden, Melissa McCarthy, Halle Bailey and Jacob Tremblay, with Lin-Manuel Miranda providing new songs for the film.
We asked Awkwafina how that project is going, and this is what she told us:
“It was amazing, it was really amazing just to see how they’re bringing that story [to life]. I watched it endlessly when I was a kid, it was one of my favourite Disney movies ever, so to see how they translated that over was really, really cool.”
But considering it is live-action, did they put her in a mo-cap suit for the movie?
Awkwafina told us: “Can you imagine? Just a human in a giant seagull [suit]. No, that isn’t how they went about it. […] But next time, I’ll dress as a giant mo-cap bird, just for you.”
Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings arrives exclusively in Irish cinemas on Friday, 3 September, while the live-action version of The Little Mermaid will likely arrive late into 2022.
Clip via Disney Ireland
