10 Fascinating Stories From Ariel's Reference Model That Made Me See "The Little Mermaid" In A Whole New Light

Sherri: They had storyboards of what they wanted her movement to be. They would show me on the storyboard, like, she swims over here, and she picks up this, and then play Jodi Benson's track. I would lip-sync to that and do the movements, sort of like blocking in a play. I pretty much stuck to the storyboard, but you also be yourself and infuse yourself into it.

They had kind of a grid behind me on the wall, which I assume helped with perspective. We filmed most scenes in the same little space. I would act out the dialog and just be myself, and they would use the video as a reference for when they drew Ariel. It's just such a cool thing to be turned into a cartoon character!

Sherri: Being an actress, especially in The Groundlings, made me very fearless about not being afraid to make a fool of myself on stage. I also had several guest spots on shows where I got to be in Westerns, and it was such a fantasy come true. I loved wearing the clothes. The whole vibe of it was really cool to me. It led me not to be self-conscious when I would flounce around in this leotard and tights, acting out the scenes for Ariel. 

Sherri: I do see myself in Ariel; I recognize bits of me in there. They would use little things that I would do. My bangs were long, so I blew my hair out of my face.

Check out a compilation of Sherri's reference scenes from The Little Mermaid.

Sherri: A lot of her hand movements were mine. People who know me very well recognized certain movements that she did as mine, particularly when she's at the dinner table and she's trying to get Sebastian underneath the dome, that kind of panicky sort of movement.

(See 1:05 in the YouTube video for a behind-the-scenes clip!)

In a Cartoon Research interview, animator Mark Henn noted that Sherri's quirks, like the lip bite, were "able to bring to the character a unique and believable spark which [they] may not have thought of otherwise."

Sherri: We just used goofy little props to represent the sea creatures. For Flounder, they used a puppet. They would hold the puppet up so I could talk to him, and Flotsam and Jetsam, I think, were hand puppets, just like sock puppets. There was a reference model for Eric, and I acted with him, but he was the only other person.

Sherri: They put me in this giant tank of water out on the side of the building, and it was probably nine feet deep. It was small and had port holes on the side so you could film somebody in the water—and the water was so cold, so deep, and it was winter. They wanted me to go down there so they could film my hair as I swam and get that kind of movement because it's really tricky to draw all that hair underwater. I didn't have to do it too long, about 10 minutes in the tank. Another day, we went to a YMCA and filmed in the pool for the shipwreck scene where Ariel rescues Eric.

But it was a joy all the way through. I mean, even the tank was kind of fun. When are you ever going to get to do that? I think being cold in the tank was probably the hardest part.

BuzzFeed: When you were swimming in the water, did you kind of have to imitate your legs like a fin?

Sherri: (Laughs) No, [the animators] can do that. They were good at the fin—I never had to act like I had a fin.

Check out The Little Mermaid behind-the-scenes bonus feature to see a look at the tank!

Sherri: On the "Part of Your World" song, I got to work directly with Glen Keane [character animator] on that one, and he had it all mapped out. It was so cute because he would act it out, you know, he showed me this is where you get up on your arms and proudly sing, and all this stuff. And I think that was the most memorable part of it.

(Behind-the-scenes video clip!)

Sherri: I remember we were doing the "Kiss The Girl" song, and the fella that played Eric and I were on a dolly. They were spinning us as we looked romantically into each other's eyes. That just sticks in my brain. It's like a really kind of absurd moment because we're just sitting on this dolly in the middle of this little sound stage being spun as the song plays.

(Behind-the-scenes video clip!)

Sherri: They called me and asked me, and I said, "Yeah, sure!" Belle didn't require as much work because she's just a human girl moving through the world, so it's not as physical, and she's not as quirky as as Ariel. So it was an easier process; there wasn't as much of it. I didn't do it as often as I did the Ariel stuff. It was such a great movie!

Fun fact: She provided the voice for Animaniacs' Slappy Squirrel!