Director defends ‘Mermaid’ casting
Some fans have expressed outrage against Disney for casting Halle Bailey
Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid had “no agenda” when it came to the casting of Ariel, said the director Rob Marshall.
The Chicago and Into the Woods director told Entertainment Weekly that his team auditioned “every ethnicity” for the role before landing on singer Halle Bailey, reports Variety.
While Bailey’s casting has been widely championed and celebrated, a small portion of racist fans have expressed outrage against Disney for casting a Black actor as Ariel.
“We just were looking for the best actor for the role, period. The end,” Marshall said. “We saw everybody and every ethnicity. [The goal was to find someone who can be] incredibly strong, passionate, beautiful, smart, clever [and with] a great deal of fire and joy.”
Bailey had all of those qualities, plus the kind of voice the role of Ariel demands. As Marshall explained, “That voice is something that is so signature and so ethereal and so beautiful that it captures the heart of Eric and he looks for her for the entire film.”
The film’s teaser trailer features only a portion of Bailey belting Part of Your World, but her vocals were enough to get fans excited for the live-action remake. Marshall said he never expected there to be such an intense focus on Bailey’s casting.
“I wasn’t anticipating that because, in a way, I felt like we’ve moved so far past that kind of thing,” Marshall said. “But then you realise, in a way we haven’t. It was very moving to me to see how important this kind of casting is for the world.”
Disney is set to open The Little Mermaid in theatres on May 26, 2023.
JANUARY
It’s GOLDEN GLOBES time. But is a Globes with no telecast, boozy celebs or red carpet a Globes at all? The embattled Hollywood Foreign Press Association, reeling from stunning failures over diversity, holds a private event and plans a comeback next year. Hey, remember the original wardrobe malfunction? Well, JANET JACKSON says she and JUSTIN TIMBERLAKE have moved on, and so should we. The New York Times buys Wordle, and we’re all thinking in five-letter words (though W-O-R-D-L-E is six, just saying.) Meanwhile, it’s a month of loss, heading off a year of loss: pioneering Black actor, director and activist SIDNEY POITIER dies at 94.
FEBRUARY
What would a year in pop culture be without BRITNEY? Just months after her liberation from her restrictive conservatorship, Spears is reported to have signed a mammoth book deal, but at year’s end we’re still waiting for news. RIHANNA is pregnant! TOM BRADY retires! (Stay tuned, on that one.) TAYLOR watch: JAKE GYLLENHAAL speaks out, saying he really has nothing to do with that song, that it’s about an artist’s relationship with her fans — but fans shouldn’t be cyberbullying, either.
MARCH
Quick, who wins Oscars this month? Well, “CODA” does, a feel-good drama with a largely deaf cast, and TROY KOTSUR becomes the first deaf actor to win an acting Oscar. Alas, all anyone can talk about is — you know. SMITH, who wins the best actor award not long after slapping Rock over a joke about his wife, Jada Pinkett Smith, won’t truly address the issue until the end of the year, so keep reading. KARDASHIAN watch: Kim K is declared legally single again in her ongoing divorce with YE, the rapper formerly known as KANYE WEST. And BRADY, retired for 40 days, says, “Never mind!”
APRIL
It’s GRAMMY time, and JON BATISTE wins big, taking five statuettes. The musician’s huge year will later include performing at the first state dinner of the Biden administration, for French President Emmanuel Macron. The next day Macron will meet with MUSK
(thanks for the segue, Monsieur le President) who begins his acquisition of TWITTER this month, leading to untold — and still unfolding — changes at the social media giant.
MAY
So imagine you’re sipping cocktails at the MET GALA and a musician comes sauntering through, playing the melodica — of course it’s BATISTE,
because the Met Gala’s that kind of crazy party. The biggest splash of the night, though, is KARDASHIAN, on the arm of boyfriend PETE DAVIDSON, wearing the same sequinned, skin tight gown MARILYN MONROE wore to sing Happy Birthday to JFK in 1962. In movies, Top Gun: Maverick opens, the highest-grossing domestic debut in CRUISE’S career, and his first to surpass $100 million
on opening weekend. HARRY STYLES fans rejoice! His album, Harry’s House, is here.
JUNE
Stunning news for the global fan base of BTS as the K-pop supergroup announces it’s taking a break to focus on members’ solo projects. On the legal front, a Virginia jury hands DEPP a victory in his very messy libel case over allegations of domestic abuse, finding that former wife HEARD defamed him in a 2018 op-ed. On a happier note, Britney gets married ….
JULY
Only one wedding, Britney? BENNIFER has two! Maybe what happens usually stays in Vegas, but not when you have 227 million followers on Instagram. With a winking reference
to being a “Sadie” (married lady) JENNIFER LOPEZ directs fans to her newsletter where she shares pics of her quickie wedding to BEN AFFLECK. “Love is beautiful,” she writes. “And it turns out love is patient.” Speaking of patience, fans of BEYONCÉ are rewarded for theirs, with the release of her long-awaited seventh studio album, Renaissance, her first solo album in six years.
AUGUST
So, we were saying …. Bennifer’s second wedding, on Affleck’s compound in Georgia, is bigger and fancier. One wedding, one split: KARDASHIAN and DAVIDSON are no longer. In other summer news, the world remembers Princess Diana, whose shocking death in a car crash happened 25 years ago, and whose life is being rehashed for a new generation
in the current season of “The Crown.” And only days later, that same Netflix series will pause production briefly as a mark of respect for Queen Elizabeth II as Britain — and the world — mourn the beloved monarch, who dies at age 96 after more than 70 years on the throne.
SEPTEMBER
Mounting political intrigue
in Europe, and by that we mean … did spit fly at the Venice premiere of Don’t Worry Darling? Either way the movie, directed by OLIVIA WILDE and starring her boyfriend (alleged spitter STYLES), is saddled — or blessed? — with more than its share of extra-curricular drama. At the EMMYS, behold SHERYL LEE RALPH, who wins for Abbott Elementary and schools the crowd on the power of dreams and selfbelief. “This is what believing looks like,” she says. You know what else believing looks like? Rachel Berry from Glee — aka LEA MICHELE — at last getting to play Fanny Brice in Funny Girl on Broadway. In sports, with four rueful words that resonate with working moms everywhere, SERENA WILLIAMS says she’s stepping aside from tennis, because: “Something’s got to give.”
OCTOBER
The second HARVEY WEINSTEIN trial opens in Los Angeles. ADIDAS drops YE, part of a cascade of companies that will sever ties with the rapper over his antisemitic and other troubling comments. HEIDI KLUM’s Halloween costume is a slimy, glistening rain worm. But before the month worms away from us, let’s cede it to SWIFT for dropping her new album, Midnights (Spotify’s most-streamed album in a single day), then adding seven bonus tracks, then becoming the first artist to occupy all top 10 slots on the Billboard Hot 100 chart. P.S. Celebrity divorce watch: BRADY and wife GISELE BUNDCHEN split.
NOVEMBER
Did we say LAST month was Taylor Swift month? Well now, millions of eager fans crowd a presale for her much-awaited Eras Tour, resulting in crashes and endless waits. Ticketmaster cancels the general sale, citing insufficient stock. Multiple state attorneys general announce investigations. Takeaway: People want Taylor Swift tickets. At the multiplex, they also want their Wakanda. Black Panther: Wakanda Forever meets the double challenge of following up one of the biggest blockbusters in history and losing its biggest star.
DECEMBER
Love ‘em or hate ’em, here come HARRY and MEGHAN again, with a Netflix “documentary” being watched very, very closely by royalty across the pond. Cameron’s AVATAR sequel finally appears, 13 years after the original broke records. SMITH emerges to promote his new film, EMANCIPATION” and hoping people will forget about … what was it? … at least enough to check out the movie. In this year of comebacks, will Smith’s be the biggest? Check back with us in 2023.