Ahead of the widely anticipated live-action rendition of The Little Mermaid starring Halle Bailey, Disney’s new princess, Variety interviewed her about her thrilling role. When it comes to filming this aquatic classic, Bailey goes deep into her childhood inspirations and her perfectly trained Disney princess voice abilities as one half of the Chloe x Halle sister pair New details about the upcoming film are revealed in an interview that fans have been anxiously awaiting! There has been a lot of secrecy around the Disney live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, scheduled for release in 2023.
In a recent interview, Bailey revealed that becoming a Disney princess is a dream come true for her as well as for many other young people. Like Ariel, Bailey had a love for the underwater realm when she was a child and fantasised about becoming one of its inhabitants. Variety quotes Bailey as saying, “Her desire, her search for herself, was something that I could identify with.” She perfectly expresses Ariel’s sense of awe and delight at the wonders of the new world around her with her ethereal energy and melodic voice.
She and her sister Chloe Bailey, with whom she used to perform in an R&B combo, are re-entering the performing scene, and the two have a lot in common. Bailey’s “amazing vocal skills” and Rob Marshall’s “enraptured” reaction to her audition for The Little Mermaid spurred the film’s songwriters, Alan Menken and Lin Manuel, to write new songs for her to sing in the film. Ariel’s “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World,” and “the most terrifying, and the most exhilarating, cinematic sequence” will still be included in The Little Mermaid thanks to Bailey’s “emotional fire.” “I want to make sure that the young girl in me and the little girls just like me who are watching realise that they’re important and that they should be a princess in every single aspect,” the actress said of her voyage to the aquatic realm of Atlantica. As a youngster, witnessing a Black Disney princess might have had a profound effect on her self-esteem, and she understands the importance of her leading position in today’s children.
Her skill speaks for itself, and the director of The Little Mermaid, Marshall, asked her audition for the part. She was able to “harness Ariel’s passion, fire, soul, joy, and heart,” Marshall remarked of the performance. With Bailey, an all-star ensemble including Javier Bardem as Ariel’s father King Triton, Melissa McCarthy as the villainous sea witch Ursula, Awkwafina as the obnoxious Scuttle, and Miranda as the irascible Chef Louis joins the cast of The Little Mermaid.
Additionally, Hamilton’s Daveed Diggs, who voiced Paul in Disney’s Soul as Sebastian, will be joining the cast as King Triton’s advisor Sebastian, along with Room’s Jacob Tremblay as Ariel’s best friend Flounder, Noma Dumezweni (Mary Poppins’ Return), and Jude Akuwudike (Beasts of No Nation) in the cast as Grimsby and Carlotta, respectively. Adapted from the novel by Jane Goldman (Stardust) and David Magee (Life of Pi), the screenplay for The Little Mermaid was written by Jane Goldman and David Magee (Life of Pi), and the film was directed by Gareth Marshall, who demonstrated his deft touch with mermaids in his previous work on Pirates of the Caribbean: On Stranger Tides.
Currently in post-production, The Little Mermaid will be released in theatres on May 26, 2023.