Halle Bailey can hardly contain her excitement over the upcoming release of the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, which has been in the works for a very long time. In a recent cover article for Ebony magazine, the actress discussed the process of filming the movie as well as the reasons why playing the character is so significant to her.
To Bailey, portraying Ariel meant being true to who she was, even with regard to her hair.
“There was a time when we’d barely see locs—and now we have a Disney princess with them, which has never happened before,” she said to Ebony at the time. “Having my hair in its natural state was a huge priority for me while making this movie. I owe a tremendous amount of gratitude to Rob Marshall, the director since he wanted to maintain my locs. It is crucial to always have someone on hand to cosign documents.
She said, “I’ve had my locs since I was five, so they’re a significant component of who I am.” “We need to be able to see ourselves, we need to be able to see our hair on big screens like this so that we are able to know that it is beautiful and that it is more than acceptable.”
When asked whether she would have loved to see Black Ariel when she was younger, she responded in the positive when asked if that was something she would have liked to see.
She remarked, “But what I love about today is that it’s normalized,” and I quote: “But what I love about today.” Someone recently shared with me that “[These children] are not even going to be familiar with the first version [of The Little Mermaid].” They see you as their version of Ariel.'”
In addition to this, Bailey discussed how she was a big admirer of Brandy’s rendition of Cinderella from 1997 and how it influenced her performance as Ariel.
“I remember Brandy’s Cinderella being one of the first [films] I saw with a Black princess,” she recalled. “It was one of the first.” “It was of such colossal importance. It changes your whole viewpoint as a young Black woman, altering how you feel about yourself, the things you believe you are capable of doing, and the opportunities that the world has to give you. She will serve as a model for all of the future princesses of African descent.
This year, Bailey will also have other films released besides “The Little Mermaid.” In addition, she will be seen in a new version of “The Color Purple,” which will hit theaters in December of this year.
She shared her excitement with Ebony, saying, “I am so thrilled to be playing young Nettie in The Color Purple.” This movie has been extremely important to me for a very long time since it is considered to be a classic in the Black family. In addition to that, I was given the opportunity to compose an original song for the movie. It’s been a lot of fun to bring my artistic sensibilities into the realm of acting for the first time. I’m just really glad to be a part of the film and to be on set with legends and individuals that I’m such a fan of, like Fantasia and Taraji P. Henson. I’m just very thankful. I just cannot contain my excitement till others see it. I have a feeling that they’ll adore it.”