On May 26, Rob Marshall’s The Little Mermaid brings the animation to life with Halle Bailey as Ariel alongside a stellar cast. While promoting the movie, Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay, the voices behind two of the original film’s most beloved characters, Scuttle and Flounder, sat down to talk with Collider’s Steve Weintraub.

In the live-action The Little Mermaid, Tremblay tells us that “the ocean really comes to life” in Marshall’s vision, from concept art to the final product. They talk about their unique experience doing voiceover, working side-by-side rather than isolated, and how that helped with their performance, their favorite sequences in the new movie, and Awkwafina shares what it felt like to receive the track for her all-new original song, “Scuttlebutt,” by Lin-Manuel Miranda. You can learn about all of this and more in the video, or you can read the full interview in the transcript below.

An ambitious live-action reimagining like this one takes an underwater kingdom to capture the magic. The Little Mermaid also stars Melissa McCarthy as the evil sea witch, Ursula, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, and Noma Dumezweni as a new character, Queen Selina.

COLLIDER: I want to start with a sincere congratulations, you're both so good in this. I think this movie is gonna make at least $10 at the box office. It might be a small hit.

AWKWAFINA: I'd say you're right, yeah.

I am curious, though, because this is a movie and these are roles that I'm sure a lot of people wanted. So, ultimately, how much did you both pay to be in the movie?

AWKWAFINA: We actually can't discuss that, but I still am on the loan program, and those payments are still going. It was hefty.

JACOB TREMBLAY: [Laughs] Yeah, no it's very, very special to be part of this. I still have to pinch myself, it feels very surreal. It definitely does.

I definitely want to talk about the “Scuttlebutt” song just because it's so good and it's so catchy. When you first heard it, were you like, “Oh my God, this is gonna be a hit?”

AWKWAFINA: Oh no, my first thought was, “How am I gonna pull this off?” Because it was sent to me with– Lin, who wrote it, had done the reference tracks, so I was just like… I just couldn't believe that I was listening to a reference track made by Lin-Manuel Miranda, a song written by him that I was set to perform. I just knew that it was exciting, and I hoped I did all right, you know?

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Image via Disney

Yeah, you nailed it. One of the things for both of you that I found so unique is, this wasn't some voiceover in a box recording process. This was a way bigger performance. Can you both talk about the actual making of the movie because I think most people won't understand what really went on behind the scenes?

TREMBLAY: Yeah, no, you're absolutely right. It was really, really cool to actually be able to do it together, and I think that definitely helped with the performance so much. And obviously getting into a character like this, you feel a lot of pressure. I was quite nervous, but doing it with everyone, it just felt so fun and real. It was just really cool to film it that way. I'd never done something like that before, it was awesome.

AWKWAFINA: Yeah, we were able to record the scene just in a room like this, and Rob [Marshall] is sitting right there, and I'd never done an animated or voice movie like that in that way.

One of the things that I found striking was the CGI, and the underwater stuff is so beautiful to look at, and I'm convinced that he maybe went underwater to film. I'm joking, but for both of you, what is it actually like watching something like this for the first time? Your imagination versus seeing the finished film?

TREMBLAY: It was actually really cool because when we were doing rehearsals, we actually saw Styrofoam cutouts of what the sets would look like and a lot of concept art. So, it's almost like when I was watching the film, I could recognize scenes. I was like, “I swear, I've seen that before,” and I was like, “Oh, yeah, I've seen it from rehearsals.” So it's just like, following Rob's vision throughout production was really, really interesting, and yeah, the whole lighting of the ocean and how they play with the colors, I think they did so, so well.

AWKWAFINA: Yeah, it was pretty mind-blowing because you really have no idea, you truly have no idea. All I knew back then was that what they had planned for like setting up, and I was just like, “That sounds crazy, man. That sounds super ambitious, and I'm glad I'm getting out of here! I did the voice stuff, I'm gonna let them start start filming.”

I saw it for the first time the other day at the premiere, and I would never be able to imagine the level that they brought things to, the way the textures are in the water, how they redid all of the sequences. It's crazy, it's a feat.

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Image via Disney

Yeah, 100%. I am curious, the original movie, do you have a favorite scene? And part two is, did you have a favorite scene in the live-action version?

TREMBLAY: I would have to say my favorite original scene would be… I love “Under the Sea.” I say it all the time, but the original version is just so fun, and I love what they did with the new one, obviously making the animals look real, and it just looks like the ocean really comes to life. But in the new one, I really like the final sequence. I really love what they did. I think that it looks like they spent like an infinite amount of dollars on it. It just looks so well done. It looks awesome, so I love the ending sequence with the final battle with Ursula.

AWKWAFINA: I love the dinglehopper scene in the original, I always thought that scene was so funny, and in this one, I really like, I'd say, “Under the Sea.” It was so cool too.

The Little Mermaid splashes into theaters on May 26! Check out our interview with Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King below.