Snowpiercer's Daveed Diggs said he worked harder preparing to play Sebastian in Disney's live-action The Little Mermaid remake than any other role in his career so far.

“I worked harder on Sebastian probably than I have for any role in my life," Diggs told Collider. "It’s tricky. I wasn’t sure, and this is also true of [my role as Andrew Layton in Snowpiercer]. I tend to say yes to things when I feel like I can do it, but I’m actually not sure I’m the smart choice or the person naturally who should be doing it."

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Diggs went on to say that's true of Sebastian, for what he admitted are "uncomfortable" reasons. "I’m not of Caribbean descent, doing that kind of work and trying to immerse myself," he said. "I’ve spent a lot of time in Trinidad and I went to Jamaica to research, and I did a lot of voice work with Chris Walker and with the late Tony Hall, to try to get the voice right. But more than the voice, the thing about a dialect is that everybody’s voice is actually very different, so consistency is really more important than accuracy. Your speech pattern is based on culture, and that was the thing I didn’t wanna let down."

"I want somebody who is from Trinidad or from Jamaica, depending on where we landed with the role, to be able to see themselves in this, in some way," Diggs explained. "Even though maybe my voice doesn’t sound exactly right, I wanted to feel like somebody connected to it. I had so many friends growing up for whom Sebastian was the first time they had seen themselves represented in mainstream American culture. As flawed as that is, that’s still important. So, that role stressed me out quite a bit, but also is incredibly fun. Like I said, I did more research for that role, than I have for any part, ever, and I’m literally a crab. It seems crazy maybe, in hindsight."

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Diggs added the "amount of lifting" he did for the film is nothing compared to The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey or the movie's other actors, saying, "I just sing a couple of cool songs and call it a day." He also teased some "cool surprises" in the film, including one of the new songs written by his Hamilton costar/creator Lin-Manuel Miranda and returning songwriter/composer Alan Menken.

Directed by Rob Marshall, The Little Mermaid stars Halle Bailey, Melissa McCarthy, Javier Bardem, Jacob Tremblay, Daveed Diggs, Jonah Hauer-King and Awkwafina. The film has yet to receive a release date.

Source: Collider