Halle Bailey is the new Ariel in the live action Disney movie The Little Mermaid, and while she’s definitely familiar with the source material, she had a weird way of watching it.
Bailey had the VHS tape of the movie when she was a kid, she told People, and despite the tape being “very old” she really loved it. Well, she loved it to a point. She didn’t like the movie’s second half, when all of the dissension really amps up.
Turns out, when she was just a wee lass (she’s 23), she would “watch maybe the first half, and then whenever it would get to the struggles, I’d start it over to watch all the happy parts.” It’s a pretty shrewd move, considering that Ursula-becoming-giant scene still haunts many of us.
This kind of “block out the negative” attitude certainly comes in handy, especially since there was so much backlash initially about Bailey, who is Black, being cast in a role that was originally drawn as white. Instead of letting all the hate drag her down, she just tuned out. Did you know you could do that? Just tune out? Hats off to her, because it’s not easy to do.
“I don’t really think about the naysayers,” she says. “I just think about the people that are positive and lift me up.” She even got the nod of approval from Jodi Benson, who voiced Ariel in the original.
“My goodness, Halle’s interpretation of Ariel is absolutely beautiful,” Benson said. “The casting has been done so perfectly. It’s about the heart of the character.”
Bailey is inspiring a whole new generation of young women, and she said she was inspired by other Black actresses, including Whitney Houston, Brandy, and Anika Noni Rose.
“When I was able to see them, I felt like I was worthy,” she said. “Now that I’m on posters and inspiring these little girls that come up to me, it’s very surreal. I just want to continue making them proud of me.”
It’s hard not to be inspired by Bailey, who seems to have a pretty good head on her shoulders despite all of the vitriol from misogynistic racists who hide behind keyboards and have no idea what it’s like to be a performer in that capacity. The pressure is probably immense. Good on her for being so elegant about everything in spite of the ugliness that surrounds her casting.
“I genuinely hope that the people who do go see this movie love it and leave the theater feeling happy because we all really collectively worked so hard on it,” she says. “I know for sure I’m proud of it.”
The Little Mermaid splashes into theaters on May 26.