the little mermaid

Halle Bailey Discusses The ‘Pressure’ Of Starring In Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’

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Following the release of the trailer for Disney’s 2023 live action version of The Little Mermaid, star Halle Bailey opened up at the recent D23 Expo about exactly how she felt playing treasured children’s character Ariel and becoming a mermaid.

“I’m so excited about this film,” Bailey told E! News. “You know being here today is so surreal.”

As the interview went on, Bailey described why she felt a bit nervous about tackling the role. “I definitely think that because I love this movie so much, and I’ve treasured it since I was a little girl, I did put a bit of pressure on myself,” she continued. “Just because I want to deliver all of the feels that I saw when I was a little girl… Knowing that gave it my all and gave 110 percent into everything of this film, I am really proud of myself.”

The trailer, which premiered at the Expo earlier this month, inspired lots of viral reactions as parents filmed their young children watching it for the first time. Bailey herself saw a few of these videos, as she replied to them on social media.

“people have been sending these reactions to me all weekend and i’m in truly in awe,” she posted on Twitter. “this means the world to me.”

Watch Bailey in the trailer for The Little Mermaid above.

Halle Bailey Discusses The ‘Pressure’ Of Starring In Disney’s ‘The Little Mermaid’

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Following the release of the trailer for Disney’s 2023 live action version of The Little Mermaid, star Halle Bailey opened up at the recent D23 Expo about exactly how she felt playing treasured children’s character Ariel and becoming a mermaid.

“I’m so excited about this film,” Bailey told E! News. “You know being here today is so surreal.”

As the interview went on, Bailey described why she felt a bit nervous about tackling the role. “I definitely think that because I love this movie so much, and I’ve treasured it since I was a little girl, I did put a bit of pressure on myself,” she continued. “Just because I want to deliver all of the feels that I saw when I was a little girl… Knowing that gave it my all and gave 110 percent into everything of this film, I am really proud of myself.”

The trailer, which premiered at the Expo earlier this month, inspired lots of viral reactions as parents filmed their young children watching it for the first time. Bailey herself saw a few of these videos, as she replied to them on social media.

“people have been sending these reactions to me all weekend and i’m in truly in awe,” she posted on Twitter. “this means the world to me.”

Watch Bailey in the trailer for The Little Mermaid above.

Disney Releases First Look Teaser of Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ Starring Halle Bailey

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halle bailey mermaid

Disney Pictures has released its first look at the live-action The Little Mermaid.  A teaser trailer for the remake was unveiled at Disney’s D23 Expo on Friday. 

It featured beautiful underwater shots of Halle Bailey starring as Ariel, singing some of the iconic song, ”Part of Your World.”  

Bailey said Friday was the first time she had seen footage of the film.

“Being a little girl swimming in the pool, imagining I was a mermaid, I never imagined that would come to life, she gushed on stage. “The three days filming “Part of Your World” was the most beautiful experience of my life.” Bailey continued, “..Feeling all the feelings she feels, her passion, discomfort, and everything she’s experiencing. It was so exciting for me to play those emotions and to have Rob directing me and being such a moving force on this film was really an honor.”

READ MORE: DDG Gifts Halle Bailey With Diamond Name Necklace

Director Rob Marshall said it was important they honored the original film while still reimagining other parts to bring more depth to the story, which includes the musical numbers.  

Alan Menken, who worked on the original Little Mermaid soundtrack, is teaming up with Lin-Manuel Miranda to create four new songs for the movie as well.  

Who is running out to see The Little Mermaid in theaters May 26, 2023?

Continue the conversation on social media.

The post Disney Releases First Look Teaser of Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’ Starring Halle Bailey appeared first on The Source.

Disney Reveals The First Teaser For ‘The Little Mermaid,’ Starring Halle Bailey

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Disney has revealed the first look at the upcoming live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid. Today at Disney’s D23 expo, where fans got an exclusive preview of the company’s upcoming movies, series, and projects, The Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall revealed the teaser clip to a large audience, as reported by Variety.

In the clip, rushing waves splash across the screen, as the familiar harp intro to the movie’s iconic song, “Part Of Your World,” plays in the background. Fish swim throughout the ocean, amid various trenches, and toward the end, singer and actress Halle Bailey is seen as Ariel.

“Out of the sea, wish I could be, part of that world,” Bailey sings, donning Ariel’s red hair, purple seashell bikini, and green tail fin.

After Marshall shared the clip, Bailey arrived to the stage at the expo to roaring applause from the audience. Bailey revealed that the “Part Of Your World” number took three days to film, however, she channeled a younger, imaginative version of herself throughout the entire production process.

“Swimming in the pool, imagining I was a mermaid, I never thought I could see that come to life,” Bailey said.

The Little Mermaid arrives to theaters May 26, 2023.

Check out the first teaser above.

Halle Bailey Reveals How She Got Through The Racist Backlash Against Her ‘Little Mermaid’ Casting

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When young R&B star Halle Bailey was announced as the star of Disney’s upcoming live-action remake of the beloved animated 1989 classic The Little Mermaid, not everyone was as enthused about the update to the Disney Renaissance favorite as her co-stars. To put it plainly, the subset of genre fans who always complain loudly whenever a minor change is made to a character’s skin color or gender really came for Halle, denouncing her casting as a case of “race-swapping” gone overboard — despite the fact that the main character Ariel’s race is in no way important to the story of her trading her voice for legs.

And unfortunately, due to the ever-pervasive nature of social media, those complaints made their way back to the actress herself. However, she was undeterred by the criticism, as she told Variety in a long-form feature published today. This was thanks mainly to her grandparents, who encouraged her in the face of the racist #NotMyAriel movement.

“It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear their words of encouragement,” she said, “telling me, ‘You don’t understand what this is doing for us, for our community, for all the little Black and brown girls who are going to see themselves in you.’” Their words helped put things into perspective for her: “What that would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything,” she explained. “Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”

Elsewhere in the feature, Halle recounted how the time spent away from her sister Chloe while filming during 2020, the height of COVID lockdowns, affected her. “She couldn’t visit me; everything was on lockdown,” she said. “It was that agony, that pain of being pulled away from something that’s like your arm, so I was pulling from that.”

The Little Mermaid is set for release on May 23, 2023.

Halle Bailey Recalls The ‘Agony’ Of Being Apart From Her Sister Chlöe While Filming ‘The Little Mermaid’

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For much of her life, singer and actress Halle Bailey has worked creatively alongside her older sister Chlöe. From making YouTube videos, to getting signed to Beyoncé’s Parkwood Entertainment label as Chloe x Halle, to acting on Freeform’s hit TV series, Grown-ish, the two have been a dynamic duo.

Over the past two years, the two have embarked on separate endeavors. They are both working on solo music and movies of their own. In 2019, Halle was announced to play Ariel in the live adaptation of Disney’s The Little Mermaid. Production was often delayed, but took place during late 2020 and early into 2021. When the film wrapped last summer, Halle immediately went to film her parts for a remake of The Color Purple, in which she will play Nettie.

The Color Purple contains darker themes than The Little Mermaid, however, Halle revealed to Variety that while filming The Color Purple, she drew from the pain of being in London filming The Little Mermaid, and not being able to see Chlöe, who was in the US for much of that time.

“She couldn’t visit me; everything was on lockdown,” Halle said, “and it was that agony, that pain of being pulled away from something that’s like your arm, so I was pulling from that.”

The Little Mermaid will arrive to theaters on May 23, 2023 and The Color Purple will premiere on December 20, 2023.

Lizzo Wanted To ‘Make Ursula A Thot, Shaking Ass’ When She Auditioned For ‘The Little Mermaid’

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Lizzo 2021
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In recent years, Disney has gotten into making live-action remakes of some of their classic animated movies. One such film is the upcoming The Little Mermaid, which has a cast that includes Daveed Diggs and Halle Bailey. The film could have had even more musical firepower than that: While Melissa McCarthy ultimately landed the role of Ursula, Lizzo auditioned for the part but did not get it. Lizzo discussed that in a new Variety interview, sharing her vision for the character.

She said, “Everyone knows I auditioned for Ursula in The Little Mermaid and I didn’t get it. But you know, I’m fine as hell. That has nothing to do with Ursula, but I was down to make Ursula a THOT, shaking ass.”

Lizzo also noted that she actually spoke with McCarthy about the movie, saying:

“You know what’s crazy? At the Adele show, I ran into Melissa McCarthy, because she [got cast as] Ursula. She was like, ‘Hi, I’m Melissa.’ And I was like, ‘Hi, I’m Melissa. And I also auditioned for Ursula.’ And she was like, ‘Well, why the hell did I get the part,’ which is a classic Melissa McCarthy thing to say. And then I was like, ‘Girl, because my audition was terrible.’ And I say that as Tyler Perry walks by. And I was like — ruined my chances there. And then she goes, ‘This is my daughter Vivian.’ And I’m like, ‘Get out of here, because my name is Melissa Viviane.’ We were looking at each other like, ‘What the hell is going on?’”

She then clarified her audition actually wasn’t bad at all, saying, “My audition wasn’t terrible. Sometimes I like to make jokes. My audition was good. You can ask Disney. I don’t want to talk too much about it. The singing was great. I’ll just say that.”

Check out the full interview here.

Lizzo is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.

Daveed Diggs Praised His ‘Little Mermaid’ Co-Star Halle Bailey: ‘She’s Really, Really Special’

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Daveed Diggs, known for his work in Hamilton andd Blindspotting as well as the LA noise-rap trio Clipping., is set to star as the ever-beloved Sebastian in Disney’s reimagining of The Little Mermaid. Diggs said wrapped his own role in the show a while ago, but as the rest of the set just finished up their last days of filming, he gave an interview about how excited he is for fans of the classic film to see their new take on the original. Talking with Sirius XM Stars about the fantastic music in the movie, and some of Sebastian’s best songs like “Kiss The Girl” and “Under The Sea,” Diggs also praised Halle Bailey, who has her breakout role as Ariel.

“I’m excited too, I haven’t seen anything,” Diggs said. “It’s not like Disney be giving me private screenings of nothing… Halle is a star. She’s really, really special.” He reassured his interviewers that all the canon songs from the original film are in the new version, and shared his own childhood memory of lining up to go see The Little Mermaid in theaters back when the first film was released. Check out his interview above and stay tuned for more teasers of Halle’s big moment.