Halle Bailey in The Little Mermaid
Halle, who was part of Disney’s world as Princess Ariel in 2023’s live-action The Little Mermaid, felt a deep connection to the mermaid’s story.
“Her sense of longing, her searching for herself, was something that I could resonate with,” she told Variety in August 2022. “She knew where she wanted to go, and she wasn’t going to let anybody stop her.”
Amid the onslaught of criticism, Halle emphasized the importance of diverse representation, especially in children’s media.
“What that would have done for me, how that would have changed my confidence, my belief in myself, everything,” she added. “Things that seem so small to everyone else, it’s so big to us.”
She took the role very seriously, going to the gym at 5 a.m. every day and spending hours practicing stunts.
“I’m trying to hold myself up with my core while singing and while acting and trying to look like I’m not shaking because it’s like a workout I’m doing, like a plank,” she told USA Today in May 2023. “So it was all of the things, trying to weave them together and look like, ‘This is natural, this is a normal day, I swim in the ocean every day.'”
Be the first to comment