MAKING A SPLASH
THE LIVE ACTION REMAKE OF THE DISNEY CLASSIC HITS THE BIG SCREEN
In recent years, we’ve seen Disney classics like Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Jungle Book get the live-action treatment, so it was inevitable that The Little Mermaid would also receive a real-life reimagining. The highly-anticipated flick, inspired by the timeless tale written by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen and a remake of the 1989 Oscar-winning original animation, will bring the classic story to life for a whole new generation of fans – and it’s also set to have Disney devotees falling in love all over again.
Splashing into the role of Ariel comes singer-turned-actress Halle Bailey, who says she’s been a long-time lover of the original film. “I remember watching The Little Mermaid on repeat and pretending that I was Ariel, swimming in the water and singing the songs, but never in a million years did I think that I would ever be able to play her,” the 23-year-old gushed.
“There’s something so special about being a mermaid because it’s a mix between this mythical, beautiful creature and your authentic self, and I think that’s why so many young children respond to the character,” she explained. “It’s like, yes, I can be this sort of magical being by just being who I am, and I am special the way that I am. That’s why it really resonated with me.”
Bailey’s casting has been applauded not just by excited fans around the world, but her fellow co-stars as well. “Halle really owns that role,” Melissa McCarthy said of the rising star. “And I’ve seen so many videos of all these beautiful little kids that don’t get to see themselves represented on-screen, and seeing Halle Bailey as that little mermaid, that is going to mean the world to them. I think we’re going to be feeling that for a long time.”
McCarthy’s own role as the cruel and
A WHOLE NEW WORLD “This movie is going to blow people away for sure,” McCarthy says of the highly-anticipated Disney flick. “It is the definition of a cinematic experience and has everything that you want in a movie … it’s like nothing I’ve seen before.”
vindictive sea witch Ursula is also one for the books, with the actress creating a villain she hoped fans will both “love and despise at the same time”. “I never thought I would get to play such a wildly iconic villain,” the 52-year-old shared. “She’s so dishy and conniving, and yet I still always feel for her because she’s the outcast and she didn’t start off bad. I think she’s been alone in her lair for so long with her eels, Flotsam and Jetsam, that she’s gone a little batty.”
Joining them in the cast is Jonah HauerKing as Prince Eric, Daveed Diggs as Sebastian, Awkwafina as Scuttle, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder and Javier Bardem as King Triton. And if the all-star cast doesn’t have you booking your tickets right here and now, then the promise of new music by Hamilton creator Lin-Manuel Miranda surely will.
(The Little Mermaid is in cinemas now)