The Little Mermaid director on working with Indian talent

The Indian film industry has been making great strides internationally. With incredible stories and great talent, Indian cinema has found a huge fan base on foreign soil. Ace filmmaker Rob Marshall is also an admirer of Indian talent.

In an interview with ANI, Rob, who is currently being lauded for his directorial The Little Mermaid, expressed his desire to work with Indian artistes in future projects.

"I would love it...I mean I am so open to working with wonderful, spectacular actors...there are so many great Indian actors. I was very proud to have Art Malik in our film. He has an Asian background and he is very special. I am always looking for who is best for the role. I am open to everybody and anybody," Rob said.

Disney's live-action remake of the beloved animated The Little Mermaid stars Halley Bailey as Ariel in the lead role. It also includes Melissa McCarthy as the evil sea witch Ursula, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian the crab, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder the fish and Awkwafina as Scuttle the seabird.

The film revolves around Ariel, the spirited young mermaid who makes a dangerous deal with the evil sea witch Ursula in order to experience life on land and meet the dashing Prince Eric. The pact, however, poses a great risk to her father's watery kingdom.

Rob's reinvention has received a thumbs-up from moviegoers.

Asked if he had any pressure of trying to live up to expectations with The Little Mermaid remake, the veteran director said, "I did not feel the pressure because I have a great relationship with people in Disney. I feel very supported by them and respected. This property means so much to the company and to the world... so I wanted to honour the greatness of what's there but also realise that I am working on a different genre -- a live-action genre...so there's an opportunity to make it a deeper and fuller experience and more fleshed out in many ways and ultimately more emotional."

However, Rob admitted that 'The Little Mermaid' is one of the most challenging films of his career to date.

Rob's previous hits include Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides, Memoirs of a Geisha, Nine, Into the Woods, and Mary Poppins Returns.