Much has been said about The Little Mermaid remake's cast, with Halle Bailey playing Ariel an unfortunate sticking point for some.
The singer has proven her detractors wrong, however, delivering a star-making performance that proves she was the perfect actress to bring Ariel to life on screen. Melissa McCarthy has similarly impressed as Ursula, but prior to The Little Mermaid's release, we hadn't really heard anything about who was playing Vanessa.
For those of you who might not recall, the classic 1989 animated movie sees Ursual arrive on the surface to sabotage Ariel's relationship with Prince Eric by posing as Vanessa. Claiming to be the one who saved him, she very nearly marries Eric before being exposed. The same thing happens in live-action, but McCarthy isn't pulling doubt duty.
Instead, Jessica Alexander plays Vanessa, and this is by far her biggest role yet after starring in smaller projects such as Into the Deep and Glasshouse.
Talking to Entertainment Weekly, The Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall explained the casting decision.
"Our Vanessa, she's such a wonderful actor," the filmmaker says. "It was so clear, right from the beginning."
"Jessica is not really a singer, but she acted the singing so beautifully. She's just a beautiful, beautiful actress, and she went there. It's sort of rare for someone that beautiful and charismatic to be able to then turn into the sea witch literally in front of you and just lose it. It was exciting to see that change. She's a force, Jessica. She's incredible."
"I really didn't want to do too many stunt [castings]," Marshall continues. "We already had Melissa McCarthy playing Ursula, so to have another well-known person playing her as Vanessa just felt weird."
We can imagine this serving as Alexander's big break, especially as she really manages to impress in just a handful of scenes. Either way, Marshall couldn't have cast a better Vanessa.
The Little Mermaid is now playing in theaters.