Halle Bailey To Star As Ariel In Live-Action ‘The Little Mermaid’
Beyonce is set to star as Nala in Disney’s upcoming live-action The Lion King — and now one of her protégés has landed the lead role in the live-action re-imagining of The Little Mermaid.
Halle Bailey, of the Grammy-nominated sister singing duo Chloe x Halle, has officially been cast as Ariel.
The film’s director, Rob Marshall, says in a statement, “After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance — plus a glorious singing voice — all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role.”
Singer-actress Halle Bailey – part of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle – has nabbed the starring role of Ariel in #Disney‘s live-action remake of #TheLittleMermaid https://t.co/jDkrGWsYft pic.twitter.com/fi6L6b9JLu
— Hollywood Reporter (@THR) July 3, 2019
“dream come true…” Chloe x Halle’s Twitter page tweeted following the announcement.
Halle currently stars with her older sister Chloe on the Freeform series grown-ish. The two got their start by posting song covers on YouTube. Their rendition of Beyonce’s “Pretty Hurts” caught Beyonce’s attention and she signed them to her label in 2015.
This girl can 100% be Ariel, and if y’all are mad about it….
Complain to your granny, because the rest of us don’t wanna hear it.#ariel #littlemermaid pic.twitter.com/9R437ZAkHg
— Don Corleone (@DCisChillin) July 3, 2019
Additional announcement regarding The Little Mermaid are expected in the coming weeks. Melissa McCarthy is reportedly in talks to play Ursula, while Jacob Tremblay and Awkwafina are in talks to play Flounder and Scuttle, respectively.
Production on The Little Mermaid is set to begin in early 2020.
Disney is the parent company of ABC News.
A Black Ariel?! This is a mood. pic.twitter.com/igSW5rnLJ5
— Frederick Joseph (@FredTJoseph) July 3, 2019
This is amazing. Also, I’m not looking forward to the racists who are going to argue why Ariel, a mermaid/imaginary creature that doesn’t exist in real life, can’t be black. https://t.co/ZPy95QGqTw
— X (@XLNB) July 3, 2019
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