Exploring Disney Junior’s Ariel with Mykal-Michelle Harris, Taye Diggs & Lynne Southerland

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In this episode of pop Culture Weekly, it's all about the brand new Disney

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Junior series Arial. I talk with
Tay Diggs, Lynn Sutherland, Michael,

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Michelle Harris and more. Let's go
Welcome to pop Culture Weekly with Kyle McMahon

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from iHeartRadio your pop culture news,
views, reviews and celebrity interviews on all

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the movies, TV, music,
and pop culture u Crabe Weekly. Here's

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Kyle McMahon, nay Na Na,
Hello, and welcome to the pop Culture

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Weekly with Kyle McMahon. I of
course am Kyle McMahon, and I can't

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thank you enough for hanging out with
me for another episode of pop Culture Weekly.

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This episode is all about the brand
new Disney Junior series Ariel. Disney

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Junior's Arial is a brand new animated
musical series. It's aimed towards preschoolers and

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of course, it's inspired by the
Little Mermaid. It follows eight year old

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mermaid Princess Ariel as she and her
friends embark on fun filled, action packed

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underwater adventures throughout their Caribbean inspired fairy
tale Kingdom of Atlantica and beyond. It's

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got, of course, fan favorite
characters like King Triton, who was played

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by Tay Diggs. Love Tay Diggs, Ursula played by the amazing Amber Riley,

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and Ariel herself is played by Michael
Michelle Harris. Who is She is

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so adorable and so talented. She's
perfect as Ariel. Of course, it's

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also got Sebastian and Flounder, and
some exciting new friends, mer children,

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Lucia and Fernie, and of course
all kinds of adorable sea creatures. So

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it's executive produced by Lynn Sutherland,
who I talk with. Lynn is one

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of the most prominent black female producer
directors in the business. She directed Mulan

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iiO as well as produced Happily ever
After on HBO and produced the classic animated

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film Babas Kids. And she is
the executive producer on Disney Junior's Ariel.

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So I can't wait to talk to
her. I also talk with Tay Diggs,

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Love Love Love Tay, and Michael
Michelle Harris. So first up my

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interview with Lynn Sutherland. Lynn,
as I stated, is a pioneer in

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the business, first black female to
ever direct a Disney film with Mulan two.

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She is a prominent producer who's worked
on such classics as Sister act two,

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one of my favorite all time movies, The Naked Gun Throw Mama from

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the Train, Beabays Kids Happily ever
After on HBO, extremely goofy movie.

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Another one of my childhood classics,
and so much more. So let's get

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right into my interview with the one
and only Lynn Sutherland. So, first

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of all, congratulations on Ariel.
It really is a cool uh project in

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the world of the Little Mermaid.
I think it's really enjoyable. People are

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gonna love it. What was the
what drew you to to telling these stories

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in this world? I just thought
it was a great opportunity to uh discover

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the richness of who Ariel is.
The nature of making the movies is it's

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a very contained kind of story.
This is a chance to see Ariel in

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lots of different parts of her life, different stories that let us see her

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as you know, warm hearted,
friendly, adventurous and an experimenter. These

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are all things that we might have
had hints of in the movies. But

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here's a chance to really get inside
of her. And so that felt like

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a meaty opportunity. Yeah. I
love that, and I love how it's

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kind of your everyday aerial, Like
you know, there's not this huge world

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potentially world shaking thing that's happening.
It could be something that we run into

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every day. That's right exactly.
She's just a girl living her life and

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discovering who she is. And yeah, I like the grounding of that versus

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that that there's a you know,
there's there's We don't point a lot to

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that she's a princess. She's just
Ariel and I like that. Yeah.

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Uh. The cast is absolutely incredible, Tay and Amber everybody. How how

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do you determine? I mean,
obviously, I know, you know,

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typically there's an audition process for for
some roles and that sort of thing.

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But how did you decide, you
know, with casting that this is Tay

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is Triton or you know whatever.
I always like to think of it a

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little bit like if it were an
opera. It doesn't apply in live action,

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but in animation, the voices help
us understand the room we're in,

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so to speak, you know,
and if everybody's voice sits in the same

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place, then I'm kind of gonna
fall asleep. So that's an element of

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the process in this show. That
aspect probably applies more to the kids.

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Making sure we have some variety in
that core group of kids, but in

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terms of the adults we're going for
in that voice, can we pick up

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the humanity of the character the way
we want that character to express. So

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Tay really when he came in and
we started actually work to shape the character,

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you know, I think it might
be one's natural instinct to think that

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he should be a king, and
it's no, He's a dad and Tay

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is a dad, So it meant
it was easy for him to grab on

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to what we were looking for.
I mean, he has a great voice

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whatever, you know, So then
it's just how do we have him craft

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his voice to work for this character. And the same with Amber. I

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mean just she's almost like you just
go, yeah, perfect Ursula because we

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wanted her to have big energy,
big heart, and you really feel a

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lot of joy when you hear her
voice, and I think Amber just captures

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all that and yeah, her fabulous
singing voice. Of course. Yes for

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you, you know you did Mulan
too. That was the first film that

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you were the first black woman to
direct a animated film. You know,

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you are continuing the legacy set by
the you know, the recent Little Mermaid

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film in bringing people of color to
characters that are beloved for generations. Is

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that for you? You know,
is that something that you are like,

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I want kids that see this to
be reflected. I loved The Little Mermaid

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when I was a kid, but
it was, you know, it didn't

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necessarily reflect my friend group. You
know, I had a lot of black

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friends and people of all color,
and it was, you know, not

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as diverse as my life. Was
that something consciously as you're doing this,

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that we want, you know,
a series to reflect our viewership. Yes,

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to reflect the viewership, and also
to reflect that that we are ready

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for that now, like the energy
we have, we have moved ourselves to

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a place where we see the deficiency
in limiting the actors that we either see

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or hear. So it's a great
nexus of the moment. It's a desire

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I've always had, and I've gotten
to work on many projects that had diverse

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cast, but this was the first
time I was doing it with a character

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that had another identity at another time. So it's just wonderful to have had

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the opportunity to move her into a
broader sense and for everyone to remember that

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you can you know, aerieal you
know, why couldn't in another iteration in

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whatever in twenty years that somebody says, you know Atlantica. Actually she's not

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in Atlantica, she's in Pacifica.
And now we're gonna tell it this way.

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You know, it's like it was
a fairy tale. We can do

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whatever we want with them, exactly. I love that. Thank you for

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what you're doing, Thank you for
speaking with me. Thank you. And

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I can't wait for everybody to see
Ariel, me too, have a great

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day, me too. Lynn's southern
Lynn, what an icon and pioneer in

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the business. And she's from Philly, so I didn't realize that. So

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next time you are back in town, Lynn, let's get a sub or

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a cheese steak at Gino's and talk
shop. All right. Next up The

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Adorable and Such a Powerhouse Michael.
Michelle Harris Is. She plays Ariel in

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Disney Junior's Ariel Mermaid Tales, and
she is an Emmy winner. She won

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the twenty twenty three Emmy in the
category of Best Younger Performer and a Pre

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School, Children's or a Young Teen
Program for her role as Alice Baxter in

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Raven's Home. She was also in
Cheaper by the Dozen and You Can Look

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at UH where I interviewed that cast
last year on from Disney Plus. And

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she stars in Mixed Dish, which
she is hysterical in. She's also been

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in Big Little Lives on HBO and
so much more. So let's get right

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in to my interview with the Emmy
winning Michael Michelle Harris. Thank you,

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Michael Michelle for speaking with me.
I appreciate it absolutely, Thank you,

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of course. So first of all, congratulations on Ariel. It's such a

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great project and you do so wonderful
in it, so I want to congratulate

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you on that. Thank you so
much, of course. So what is

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it like, I mean Ariel,
Like, what is it like to play

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Ariel Vierial? Right? I am
so so so excited to be playing Ariel

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as a person who like always grew
up on watching all of the Disney princesses

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and wish they could be a Disney
princess when I grow up. I being

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and now actually being a Disney princess
is like a dream come true. I

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am so excited. I am this
is like such a fulfilling role for me.

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I'm just oh, it's it's so
amazing and I love that and you

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do such a great job with it. And of course, and you have

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such great talent around you, Tay
Diggs, Amber Riley, you know,

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you have such great you know,
these these big talented people, and you

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are holding your own with all your
talent with them. What's it like to

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work with with talent like that?
Unfortunately I didn't get to be in the

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studio with them, but I did
get to see the first and second episode

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and hearing their voices and all that
emotion that they put into the character,

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mixed with the beautiful scenery of Atlantica
and the incredible songs, just it brings

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the whole show together in this beautiful
culmination of all of all of the talent.

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Yes, and and you're totally totally
right. It is a culmination of

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so many awesome things, from the
music and the score and the animation and

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all of you guys. It's such
a great project. What you know,

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when you are obviously you know,
successful actor, when you get a project

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like this that is something that has
a history before you know, there's a

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there's a couple of films, there
was a series at one point. Do

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you feel pressure at all or are
you like, I'm gonna do my own

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take on aerial or can you like
block out the other actors that have played

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her before? How do you do? How does that work for you?

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That's actually all of those things are
are what I feel home. So of

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course there is a pressure because have
been so many different people that have played

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this role and that have knocked it
out of the ballpark, and I,

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you know, I feel like I
have to come in with this you know,

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new take on things and you know, be up there with them and

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stuff like that. But I feel
like it is a good feeling that I

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know that I can put my own
spin on things, put my own take

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on things. But also I did
a bit of character resource research. You

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know, I watched the aerial feature
films again. I studied what I felt

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like they or what I felt like
she would sound like when she was eight

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years old, because we have not
seen arios so young, and so I

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had to you know, kind of
come up with like a backstory ish like

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you know, her aerialisms. So
of course I was helped out by the

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writers and the executive producers and the
director, but you know, so the

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tiny details I have to sprinkling myself
sometimes And where did that come from?

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For you? Those those little details. Is it just your personally personality coming

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out, or is it you know, is it in things that you've learned,

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or where does that come from?
I think overall, when I like

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drop into the character and fully take
on the character, it really just comes

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from a place where I think it
would the character right. And so I

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feel like when I'm doing like the
aerial I don't really have to modify my

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voice that much. But when I
do kind of like the aerial voice,

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I really think about the different how
she would sound natural, you know,

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and I just it just comes out
right, like sometimes I put a giggle

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on the end of a line,
or or like I do like an extra

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big smile on this line, so
that it comes through my voice. And

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I feel like that really just comes
from a place of knowing the character and

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knowing how she would react to certain
things. I love that. And finally,

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what is most excite for you?
You know? In this project?

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You know, there's so many cool
things, as we've discussed many of them.

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What is your favorite part of being
aerial in Ariel? Right, I

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think one of my absolute favorite parts
is all the diversity that is included in

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this show. There are so many
different merph folks that you can see in

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this in Disney Juniors Aerial and you
can basically put yourself in their shoes.

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And I would say that all of
this diversity and stuff like this is really

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good to include in a preschool show
because it's great to show this type of

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this type of of what is the
word this type of diversity yeah, oh

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oh yeah, gotcha, this type
of diversity to young children, so that

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they know that they're not alone in
whatever they may be going through. They're

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not alone, and it's okay to
be themselves. It's okay to you know,

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like what they like, do what
they do, and that all comes

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through in the diversity in Disney Junior's
Ariel. But as an artist and an

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art junkie myself, I also love
the imagery of the mystical underwater land of

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Atlantica. Yes, it is beautiful
and and to your point with the diversity,

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I think it's amazing too. People
get to see themselves represented all throughout

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Atlantica and Ariel, And of course
that is with huge kudos to you with

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all of this and making Aerial Ariel. So thank you so much for speaking

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with me. I can't wait for
everybody to see Ariel. Thank you.

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I appreciate it. Michael Michelle Harris. I can't wait for to continue to

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watch her career just explode. How
are you an Emmy winner at twelve years

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old? Like I woke up with
a burrito in my pocket this morning,

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and this twelve year old has an
Emmy. She's incredible and love speaking with

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her. She's so delightful, so
smart and talented. And as I said,

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I can't wait to continue to watch
her career explode. All right.

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Next up, I love this man. Tay Diggs plays King Triton, Ariel's

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father in The Little Mermaid. Tay
originated the role of the landlord Benny in

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the Tony and Pulitzer Prize winning musical
Rent. He continued to work on Broadway,

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including the revival of Chicago in two
thousand and two. End was in

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the Broadway musical Wicked. He got
from the stage to TV in the soap

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opera Guiding Light, then made his
film debut and How Stella Got her groove

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back then he just went ham.
He was in the Wood with Omar Epps.

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He was in the Best Man where
he was the best Man House on

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Haunted Hill. And you know,
I love My Horror. He replied his

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role as Benny for the Rent film. He reprised his role as the band

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leader in the film adaptation of Chicago
and played opposite Christian Bale in Equilibrium.

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And that's just scratching the surface.
Oh and by the way, he is

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the only two time winner on Lip
Sync Battle, which love that show.

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So without further ado, let's jump
into my interview with King Triton himself.

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Tay Diggs, what's up to say? How you doing man? How are

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you, Kyle? Good to see
it? Good to see you. So

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this new project it is I love
it because it is a just another kind

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of chapter in the universe of the
Little Mermaid and King Triton. For me

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anyway, King Triton has been such
always, such an iconic character which you

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are now playing. What is that
like for you? It's it's so many

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things. Because I grew up on
Disney and and always uh dreamt about being

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in a Disney movie. Finally getting
that opportunity is amazing. Uh. And

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then when I think about the project
that I'm working on, a Little Mermaid,

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and and how a solid and you
know, ever living that this tale

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is that's amazing. And then when
I think of the perspective in which you

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know, they're they're they're coming at
these characters kind of dealing in everyday problems,

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very realistic, very down to earth
situations. That's it's it's excellent.

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You know, it's you know,
I'm I'm. I consider myself very lucky.

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And for you, as you know, as an actor, do you

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find so in other words, obviously
there's been other actors that have played this

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character before. Do you find it
hard to kind of differentiate and find your

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own take on it or are you
able to like block those out or how

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do you approach that? Oh,
that's a good question. I do neither.

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I just since the writing is so
good, I just follow the writing.

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I don't think about who came before
me, who's going to come after

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me. I don't care about my
performance after I've made it. I find

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it's it's it's healthier for me to
just be in the moment and uh and

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do what I do and uh and
not put much extra on it. Okay,

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and acting, you know, voice
acting obviously it is just as challenging,

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I would assume, as as being
on camera and that sort of thing.

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Do you find that there are additional
challenges as an actor when doing voice

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work over being on camera. Oh, I hate when people say things like

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this, but I don't. I
don't think of it as a challenge.

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Uhh. It's different and it's always
great to be exposed to different things,

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you know, and in a lot
of ways, it's it's more difficult than

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acting, as you know it because
you don't have your body or your gestures

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or your facial expressions to lean on. All you have is your voice.

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So that's that's really really cool to
uh experiment with. Yeah, and I

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love the fact that that that I'm
still learning, you know, this job

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won't get boring because I'm still learning
learning about it. So I love that.

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And when when you filmed Ariel or
I guess not filmed when you worked

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on Ariels recorded? Yeah, recorded
Aeriel? Were you was this like solo

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or or you know you're you're doing
Triton's parts by yourself or are you like,

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how does that work with this project? Yes, that's a good question.

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I personally, I don't know how
the other actors work, but personally

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I am by myself in a studio, and then there are the overseers,

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you know, through a glass window, the engineers and whatnot, and it's

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just me. Normally you might hear
someone complaining about not being in the same

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room as their fellow actors, but
the other actors in this project are so

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talented that when I hear them through
my earphones, it's as if they're they're

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standing right there. So I can't
even complain about that. It's a it's

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a great gig, you know.
I can come in and house shoes in

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a wardrobe as long, and a
robe as long as your as long as

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your voices are warm, you can
get down. I love that. And

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uh, will we be seeing further
adventures uh with with King Triton. Absolutely,

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I can't wait. Thank you so
much today. I really appreciate your

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time and I'm such a great project. Yeah, great, great, great

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questions, my man. Thank you. Have a good day you too,

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sir Ty Diggs. I love him. We followed each other on Twitter for

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years and you know, would send
messages here and there, back and forth,

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but I've never interviewed him. So
here's my first official interview with mister

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Tate Diggs. So there you have
it. The my interviews with the team

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behind Disney Junior's Ariel Mermaid Tales.
You can watch Ariel on Disney Plus and

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Disney Junior beginning today. If you're
listening, I guess today No matter when

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you're listening, June twenty first,
today is when At debuts. So it's

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really a great series for the little
ones and there's a lot to enjoy for

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us big ones too. So that's
it for this episode. I've got some

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exciting things coming up for the next
few episodes, including who knows, maybe

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we'll have a return of the rotating
panel of guest hosts and start getting back

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to those fun conversations that we haven't
had in a long time. So until

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then, hit me up on socials
at KMAC music. On most places,

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we're at real Kyle McMahon, we're
at pop Culture Weekly. Just find me,

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00:24:40.400 --> 00:24:45.079
search me, continue to reach out
to me. Please continue to review

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if you haven't on Apple Podcasts.
It really does help us and helps the

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show continue to grow each and every
week. And that is all because of

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you and your love for this and
I do it for my love for you.

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Thank you. I'll see you next
week. Thank you for listening to

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pop Culture Weekly. Here all the
latest at popculturewekly dot com. I don't

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want to be where the people are.