Daveed Diggs Talks THE LITTLE MERMAID, Says Sebastian is His Hardest Role Ever

Tony winner Daveed Diggs will take us under the sea in the upcoming live action film adaptation of Disney's "The Little Mermaid" - he plays Sebastian the Crab, the nervous right-hand man to King Triton. Sebastian sings the Academy Award-winning song, "Under the Sea."

"I worked harder on Sebastian probably than I have for any role in my life," Diggs told Collider.

The "Hamilton" star said he went to Trinidad and Jamaica to work on Sebastian's accent. He worked with Chris Walker and the late actor Tony Hall to nail Sebastian's very specific tone.

"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," he said. "Your speech pattern is based on culture, and that was the thing I didn't wanna let down."

Diggs said that, for many of his friends, Sebastian was their first experience of on-screen representation.

"As flawed as that is, that's still important," Diggs continued. "So, that role stressed me out quite a bit, but also is incredibly fun."

Diggs is best known for his unforgettable performance as Lafayette/Thomas Jefferson in the smash hit Hamilton for which he won a Tony Award. Other credits include Word Becomes Flesh, In the Red and Brown Water, Jesus Hopped the 'A' Train, The Tempest, Troilus and Cressida, and Mirrors in Every Corner. TV credits include: Snowpiercer, The Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt, Black-ish, Central Park, Bob's Burgers.

Read the original story on Collider.

Listen to "Under the Sea" here: