After news that Melissa McCarthy is in talks to play Ursula in the upcoming The Little Mermaid, it was announced that Disney has found the actress who will play Ariel.
Everyone, meet Halle Bailey!
Bailey is a singer who forms one half of the duo Chloe x Halle with her sister Chloe. They started doing covers on YouTube until they started making their own original music. Later on, they appeared in Beyonce’s Lemonade visual album and was the opening act in her Formation World Tour and her joint concert with Jay-Z On The Run II Tour. Chloe x Halle has provided songs for the soundtracks of the series Grown-ish and the movie adaptation of A Wrinkle in Time.
Director Rob Marshall praised Bailey’s “rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice.”
dream come true… ??♀️? pic.twitter.com/sndjYUS6wO
— chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) July 3, 2019
Bailey announced the news on Twitter, with a photo of Ariel with dark skin, brown eyes, and black hair.
The Little Mermaid was released in 1989 to critical acclaim, marking the beginning of what is called the Disney Renaissance, which includes the films The Rescuers Down Under, Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin, The Lion King, Pocahontas, The Hunchback of Notre Dame, Hercules, Mulan, and Tarzan. The Little Mermaid won two Academy Awards the year it was released: Best Score and Best Original Song for “Under the Sea.”
The filming of the live-action adaptation will begin in 2020.
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