Jonah Hauer-King Jokes He Almost Became 'Incredible Hulk' Bulking Up for 'The Little Mermaid'
The British actor appeared too muscular to play Prince Eric in the Disney film ahead of shooting, his trainer has revealed
Giles Keyte/Disney; Sana Shirvani Instagram
Jonah Hauer-KingJonah Hauer-King may have trained a bit too hard in preparation for The Little Mermaid!
According to the 28-year-old British actor's personal trainer Sana Shirvani, he beefed up to the point where he started looking like a certain green Marvel character, ahead of filming.
"I remember the director coming up to me and saying, 'We are not after the Incredible Hulk; we want a strong sailor boy,' " Shirvani told Insider.
Hauer-King — who plays Ariel’s love interest Prince Eric in the Disney film — was initially put on a traditional bodybuilding program, to build up his “back, biceps, chest and triceps" for three months in the lead-up to shooting.
When the COVID-19 pandemic caused production to shut down in March 2020, Hauer-King continued to train for eight months, until production was able to start — and ended up looking too muscular for the role, his trainer shared.
"We got him to that point, and then obviously if he continued training in that capacity, he was only going to get bigger and bigger," Shirvani said.
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Hauer-King’s training was tapered down as a result and he was put on a calorie surplus, with lots of protein.
"He was so, so dedicated," Shirvani continued. "His professionalism was so good that he just said yes to everything I threw his way."
Shirvani told Insider that she made sure Hauer-King, who had ACL surgery 18 months prior to filming, was comfortable enough in his workouts and focused on rebuilding his knee strength, so he could perform his own stunts on set.
"He still was pretty new to gym training, so getting him strong was one of our top priorities," she explained.
Jeff Spicer/Getty Images
Jonah Hauer-King at the U.K. premiere of The Little Mermaid (2023)Last month, Hauer-King spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about landing the role of Prince Eric when Harry Styles had also been in talks for it.
"He's pretty cool and amazingly talented, so yeah, it was cool to be mentioned in the same breath," Hauer-King said of Styles, 29.
Director Rob Marshall confirmed to Entertainment Weekly in April that he'd talked with Styles about playing the film's love interest.
However, the singer "really felt like he wanted to go off and do the movies that he ended up doing, which were sort of darker," said Marshall, 62, referring to Styles' R-rated 2022 films Don't Worry Darling and My Policeman.
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