Disney’s live-action remake of The Little Mermaid has been in the news repeatedly for various reasons since it was first announced through its theatrical release. Many were incredibly upset with the Mouse House for casting Black actress Halle Bailey as Princess Ariel, accusing them of “pandering to woke audiences.” The Walt Disney Company was also under fire for changing the lyrics of some songs to include consent.
Disney’s The Little Mermaid live-action remake
The Little Mermaid live-action remake stars Halle Bailey as Ariel, Melissa McCarthy as the sea-witch Ursula, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, and Jonah Hauer-King as the dashing Prince Eric. The movie is directed by Chicago filmmaker Rob Marshall and features music and scores from Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda.
The film did exceedingly well during its opening weekend, although it’s seen some trouble overseas from racist backlash, similar to what many expressed domestically in the United States.
Disney accidentally casts a porn star in The Little Mermaid
However, all this news aside, there has been a surprising revelation about this live-action remake. Disney accidentally cast an adult film star—that’s right, a male porn star—in the movie.
As reported by SF Weekly, “Casting bosses working on the live-action remake wanted to use ‘really sexy male models’ to portray the mermen in the film, and among those hired for the job was 24-year-old Stefano Tomadini.”
What Disney didn’t know was that Tomadini has also appeared in multiple adult films under the alias Dante Ferrari.
It’s a situation that is more likely than not an accident, considering how careful Disney usually is with their casting and image. The reason for casting someone who looks like Tomadino is that Disney wanted to have “really sexy male models” play mermen in the movie.
SF Weekly reported that per a Disney insider, “They had no idea about Stefano’s racy videos and, given ‘The Little Mermaid’ is the big summer blockbuster for kids, it’s a bit embarrassing for Disney.”
Disney has not made any official comment on the news at the time of publishing.
