Halle Bailey Is having the time of her life promoting The Little Mermaid, but filming the movie also gave the young actress a lot of different experiences. One of those was being able to learn from her co-stars, including Melissa McCarthy who plays Ursula in Disney’s new live-action adaptation of their 1989 animated classic.
While speaking with SiriusXM’s Julia Cunningham, Bailey explained howMcCarthy taught her a lot about being able to speak up for yourself on set and became a real inspiration to her. She explained:
“Well, first of all, Melissa is just incredibly talented and such a funny, like, just joyful woman. Like, I was just already fangirling when I found out I would get to even meet her because I've been a fan of her for a very long time. And, you know, she taught me a lot about what it means also to speak up for yourself and to command a set in a room. You know, this was my first time doing anything like this, ever. So I'd never been number one on a call sheet before. I didn't know what that meant. I didn't know that suddenly everyone was going to be looking at me for these answers for, you know, majority of the scenes. And I will never forget when she came in the first day, she was just so positive and so joyful, but also so strong and knew what she wanted for herself and spoke up every time she needed something.And I was just genuinely so inspired by her. And it struck me that like, “Wow, you can do that. Like, wow, you can really do that. I'm gonna try to do that too, you know?” Um, but I think people are just gonna be blown away with her performance of Ursula. Oh, she gives it her all, she gives it her all, and she can really sing as well. I think a lot of people don't know that about Melissa too, but she can blow. So as Ursula, she killed it. And I can't wait for people to see it.”
The Little Mermaid Is Set To Make A Star of Halle Bailey.
Having the lead role in any Disney movie is a big deal, but The Little Mermaid is already considered one of the House of Mouse’s greatest movies, and sparked Disney’s early 90s renaissance, which led to titles such as Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin and The Lion King. With these movies having already being adapted into successful live-action remakes, it is not surprising that The Little Mermaid is set to be one of the biggest movies of the year.
Halle Bailey was originally the subject of much online hate over her casting as Ariel, but as the release date approaches and more clips have been revealed, there is very little doubt as to why she was chosen to take on the role. Where she goes from here is anyone’s guess, but she is certainly set to be part of Hollywood’s world for some time to come.
The Little Mermaid is released in cinemas on May 26.