They speak to each other in this really beautiful way. I love the color palettes Rob chose for under the sea and on the land. What else surprised you when you saw the final cut?Įverything that happens above water is really beautiful and precise. Mostly because every time Awkwafina said something, I started laughing. They ended up keeping so much more than I thought they would.
All of the other actors in the scenes were also there acting with us so we got to play off people for real, which was really special. Awkwafina, Jacob, and I were all sitting at stands with mics and there were cameras pointed at us so they could capture our facial expressions. When we did the actual audio recordings, we were on a sound stage altogether. It allowed us to feel like a company of actors, and make choices together. So we would rehearse scenes with the puppeteers, moving the character through space, being like, “OK, well it's gonna take Sebastian this many seconds to climb up this wall, so we might need a little more dialogue here.” There were also puppeteers who had to scale models of what our characters looked like. So for me, Aquafina, and Jacob-we’re the fully animated characters. If you were in a scene with somebody, we rehearsed in real space together. That first month, we rehearsed it like it was a musical. Rob Marshall made a bunch of really smart choices with the production, but this was one of the best. Were you in the booth with your co-stars? Tell me more about the recording process.
I feel like I already won and I don’t need anybody else’s opinion. But this was so cool to see it and really enjoy it.
For me, all I ever have is the process, right? I love making things, so I normally won't watch myself at all. I really just wanted to see it and be able to feel it for myself, so I hadn't really been listening -and it totally blew me away. And I didn't see the film until the premiere in LA. We rushed the recording of “Under the Sea” so I could fly back and get home before they stopped flights. I actually finished my last day of recording on March 19th, 2020, the day before the world shut down. The audio recordings happened so long ago. Have you tuned into the buzz online?ĭAVEED DIGGS: Not really. To celebrate the film, Diggs chatted with Esquire about creating the movie, his favorite Little Mermaid song, and the importance of viewers seeing themselves reflected on screen- even in a children's movie.ĮSQUIRE: Congratulations on The Little Mermaid, Daveed. Uuntil then, you can watch their shenanigans transpire in The Little Mermaid. If Disney’s paying attention, they’ll give Sebastian and Scuttle the prequel they deserve. “It’s that, like, we’ve known each other for a long time and we know each other so much that we can’t be together anymore. “The way they argue has that kind of vibe to it,” Diggs adds, laughing at the elaborate bit. In their version of events, the bickering duo were divorced before the events of The Little Mermaid even take place. “We developed this weird backstory for Sebastian and Scuttle.” “She’s a genuinely hilarious person,” Diggs says of the comedian. And for the crab's signature attitude and witty one-liners? Well, that came with the help of Diggs’ co-star, Awkwafina, who voices Sebastian’s frenemy, Scuttle. That laid the groundwork for Sebastian's history. Prior to filming, he traveled to the Caribbean to learn about their culture and the origins of Calypso music, which is featured throughout the film. “A big part of me was like, What am I doing? Fandoms are a real thing and you don’t want to disappoint people when you know how important these films are to folks.”Īll fears aside, the 41-year-old Diggs quickly settled into the character. “I was terrified until we started rehearsing,” he tells me over Zoom. In The Little Mermaid's live-action remake, which debuted last weekend, Diggs expertly adds his own spin to the character, but he admits that playing Sebastian was a daunting task. Now, three decades later, it’s Daveed Diggs who is making Sebastian shine for a new generation.
The sassy red crab, who helps Ariel defeat Ursula and live her best life above ground, was a standout in the 1989 animated film. If you’re a fan of Disney's The Little Mermaid, then you’re a fan of a tiny crustacean named Sebastian.
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