When the Internets broke into a frenzy yesterday confirming One Direction's Harry Styles for the Prince Eric role in Disney's The Little Mermaid, I left it alone. While I'm not above posting rumors, even thin ones, confirmations by theatre chains, in this case AMC and Regal (who have since deleted their tweets), aren't trusted source for that kind of thing. And it looks like it was the smart idea to just chill, because Styles isn't part of the live-action remake at all.
Styles has passed on the Prince Eric role in The Little Mermaid, this according to TheWrap who followed-up when "confirmations" of his casting made their way through social media. There was reason to believe them, as Styles was rumored for it just last month. But like I said, rumors are one thing, but confirmations are quite another.
No love to the sites that didn't bother waiting for a more trusted source. It can't always be about who's first. Accuracy has to fit into the equation somewhere.
The Rob Marshall-directed film currently has Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Jacob Tremblay, and Awkwafina on board to star, with Javier Bardem possibly joining them as King Triton.
