In a recent interview with Entertainment Weekly, Rob Marshall, the director of the live-action remake of The Little Mermaid, shared that Javier Bardem dropped “like 15 feet” while filming a scene for the new movie. Bardem plays Ariel’s father, King Triton, in the film.
On the set of The Little Mermaid, actors were suspended in the air while shooting underwater scenes, using a technique known as “dry for wet.” Marshall told the outlet, “We almost lost Javier … It was in his throne room and he was up there maybe at least 40 feet in the air, and he dropped in one moment like 15 feet.”
The Chicago director added, “Javier, who is the coolest man on the planet earth and the nicest man ever said 'OK. I'm okay. I'm good, I'm good, I'm good.' But it was like that was bad. But then you realize what we're doing was really challenging. We were never on the ground until halfway through the film.”
