As audiences eagerly await the first look at the film, The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey is reflecting on the racist backlash to her Ariel casting. Though better known to some for her music career with her sister Chloe, Bailey broke out on screen with her work in Freeform's Black-ish spinoff show, Grown-ish, portraying one of the main friends of Yara Shahidi's Zoey, though would become a recurring player in season 4 as her character headed off to Tokyo to be part of the Olympic Track Team. The Little Mermaid is set to be Bailey's first major feature role, followed shortly thereafter by a new adaptation of The Color Purple, in which she'll star as a younger version of Ciara's Nettie.
The Little Mermaid also marks the latest live-action Disney remake, based on the 1989 film centered on King Triton's daughter Ariel, who is obsessed with the human world and trades her voice to get human legs from the sea witch Ursula. Bailey is leading the ensemble cast of the film alongside Jonah Hauer-King, Javier Bardem, Melissa McCarthy, Daveed Diggs, Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina. Filming on The Little Mermaid ran from January to July 2021 and as it gets closer to its May 2023 release, one star is opening up about their time, both good and bad, leading the remake.
While speaking with Variety for a special profile on the film, The Little Mermaid's Halle Bailey reflected on the racist backlash to her Ariel casting. Though noting the criticism stung when it first began surfacing, the star recalled how her family helped support her through her initial difficulties, namely her grandparents, who offered very thoughtful words of encouragement. See what Bailey shared below:
“It’s important to have a strong support system around you. It’s hard to carry the weight of the world on your own. It was an inspiring and beautiful thing to hear [my grandparents'] words of encouragement, 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.' What [Ariel being a person of color] would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything. Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”
Pixar and Disney have recently explored a variety of culturally diverse stories and protagonists, including the Polynesian-focused Moana, the Columbian-based Encanto, the Mexico-set Coco and Southeast Asia-influenced Raya and the Last Dragon. In spite of these efforts, as Bailey notes, nearly all of the studio's princesses from the past have been white characters, save for Aladdin's Princess Jasmine and The Princess and the Frog's Tiana, the latter of whom is known for being the first Black princess in the Disney Princess franchise. Given this history, many toxic viewers have unfairly criticized Disney and director Rob Marshall for their decision to cast Bailey as Ariel as a "woke" choice.
While she may have been briefly affected by the racist backlash to her Ariel casting, Halle Bailey's response to The Little Mermaid detractors should come as heartwarming for those who shared their support for her in the role. Additionally, with her realization from her grandparents' words of encouragement of the importance of a Black woman leading the Disney remake, Bailey's determination to effectively bring Ariel to life should further confirm why she is the best person for the role. Only time will tell if critics and audiences agree when The Little Mermaid hits theaters on May 26, 2023.
Source: Variety