Jonah Hauer-King Got Too Muscly for ‘The Little Mermaid’

Photo: Karwai Tang/WireImage

Turns out Prince Eric is a bit of an overachiever. Jonah Hauer-King’s personal trainer for the live-action Little Mermaid, Sana Shirvani, told Insider that the actor actually gained too much muscle while preparing for his role. Shirvani said she put Hauer-King on a standard bodybuilding program before production started. According to Shirvani, he was relatively new to gym training at the time, and also had to rebuild strength in his knee due to a prior ACL surgery. “He was so into the training,” she said. “He really enjoyed the strength training, the progressive overload, seeing the developments.” When the pandemic shut filming down for eight months, Hauer-King continued working out through virtual sessions — so enthusiastically, in fact, that he got too ripped. “I remember the director coming up to me and saying, ‘We are not after the Incredible Hulk, we want a strong sailor boy,’” Shirvani recalled. Ultimately, Prince Eric ended up reducing both his training and his food intake to become a less muscular part of our world.