Since Halle Bailey was cast as Ariel in the new The Little Mermaid live-action remake, fans have been excited to see the Chloe x Halle singer show her skills off on the silver screen. On a recent appearance on Watch What Happens Live, her costar Melissa McCarthy had nothing but praise for her vocal performances.
“I had a truly, really — not weird reaction, just overwhelming,” said McCarthy, who plays Ursula in the new film. “It’s so beautiful and it’s just different. That girl has got roots down and she sings from her heart. When I heard it, there were like seven of us that just burst out crying because we had not heard it.”
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While McCarthy did not specify whether the songs she heard were covers of the original animation’s songs or new ones for the live-action remake, she continued to praise Halle’s skills.
“She is a remarkable young woman in every moment, how she is on set, how she is as a person, and I burst out crying. And now I realize, now she’s thinking, ‘There’s a really old woman in front of me crying and this is weird.’ But I couldn’t get it together,” confessed McCarthy.
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Halle saw McCarthy’s comments and thanked her co-star on Twitter. “This was so kind, miss you,” she said along with a few emojis.
McCarthy is also not the first Little Mermaid co-star to praise Halle Bailey. In August of last year, Daveed Diggs had some kind words to say about Halle, saying “she’s really, really special.”
He’s not a co-star, but Childish Gambino also praised Halle for landing the role. While Halle has received a lot of love for her music, her casting as Ariel resulted in many racist comments and negativity thrown her way. We’re glad to see her co-stars have her back, and we can’t wait for her to prove haters wrong when The Little Mermaid premieres on May 26th, 2023.