news Disney Casts Halle Bailey As Ariel In Live-Action Adaptation Of 'The Little Mermaid'

[Jordan Miller]

ISN’T THIS NEAT?

Disney is remaining their classic cartoon films as live-versions. Most recently, the company struck gold with Aladdin, and their next release, The Lion King, is already smashing box office pre-sale records. 

They also have their sights set on a live-remake of The Little Mermaid, and according to new reports, Disney hired Chloe x Halle member Halle Bailey to play Ariel.

“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,” director Rob Marshall said in a statement.

Melissa McCarthy is in talks to play Ursula.

The new Little Mermaid film will feature songs from the 1989 version, as well as original compositions from oringal creator, Alan Menken, and “Hamilton” creator Lin-Manuel Miranda. Menken composed “Under the Sea,” “Part of Your World” and “Kiss the Girl.”

Chloe x Halle rose to fame after their YouTube covers caught the attention of Beyonce and signed them to Parkwood Entertainment. They also opened for the singer on her Lemonade tour.

 

 

[redacted statement]

lol, this is ridiculous, she looks nothing like Ariel.. I'm so tired of this Hollywood pandering.. what good is representation and diversity if it's not genuine and only for the sake of brownie points..  who is she anyway, she doesn't even have a wikipedia page.. if they can cast this bish, they could have casted a random broadway singer that at least looked like Ariel..  can we please reserve this whole diversity bullsh*t for new movies and stop messing with classics?! it's pathetic.. 

[OurWorldIsSoNice]

6 minutes ago, iAlwaysSingLive said:

lol, this is ridiculous, she looks nothing like Ariel.. I'm so tired of this Hollywood pandering.. what good is representation and diversity if it's not genuine and only for the sake of brownie points..  who is she anyway, she doesn't even have a wikipedia page.. if they can cast this bish, they could have casted a random broadway singer that at least looked like Ariel..  can we please reserve this whole diversity bullsh*t for new movies and stop messing with classics?! it's pathetic.. 

I agree 

Imagine if they cast Aladdin and Jasmine as white...whole different story then, the uproar would be huge...it really is pathetic like trying to prove something  

Its not racist to cast someone who looks like the f**king character of a classic i dont get it 

 

 

[redacted statement]

Melissa McCarthy as Ursula seems a bit too obvious as well, idk, it just seems almost too predictable and conventional for a role as iconic as Ursula.. they could have casted any of the other "bigger" Hollywood comedians / actresses (Rebel Wilson) and it would be literally the same thing.. Ursula has a very particular energy surrounding her (from the way she speaks, to the way she moves) and Melissa ain't it.. should have been a drag queen.. overall, I'm super disappointed.. 

[falka]

 

[OurWorldIsSoNice]

Omg Karen you cant just ask people why theyre white 

[Lorenzo]

Who the hell even thought that this would be a good idea? This is gonna flop harder than Gigli

[RealLarryRudolph]

Why did I read that as halle berry? I thought outrageous 2.0 was coming 

[redacted statement]

11 minutes ago, RealLarryRudolph said:

Why did I read that as halle berry? I thought outrageous 2.0 was coming .. 

yup.. the same way I always read "pom" as "****", I read this as "Halle Berry".. 

[IUSAtonight]

I'm not the biggest LM fan so i don't mind it but i think that if it was the other way around people would be far more outraged. There's nothing wrong with keeping the original character race.

Disney should really try creating more original stories with main characters of other races besides caucasian and not race bend their existing classic characters. It seems really try hard.

Besides the casting choice im wondering where will they go with the story. Since they made a change like that I'm guessing there will be changes to the story as well. Maybe they will make Ariel less boy crazy and obsessed.

[none]

I'm sure she's a great actress, but isn't Ariel based off the coast of Denmark? I don't like when people (organizations) are like "see? we're diverse". Usually when you try to shove diversity, it means you aren't and/or don't believe in it. Real diversity is just natural and it shows.

[Avatar]

The only time a persons race in a movie should be an issue is when it has something to do with the story. People really out here acting like red wigs don’t exist and mermaids are real.

The Little Mermaid is my favorite Disney movie and character and I don’t care what race she is. I know this girl can sing, but haven’t really seen her range in acting. 

And Melissa McCarthy isn’t grey or intimidating and has no singing ability.

[khaleesi]

This is so stupid!!!  (Before ya'll come @ me , i'm black. Shut your mouth). This is mere PANDERING. 
WHY COULDN'T THEY KEEP ARIEL AS THE ORIGINAL ONE? WHY?! WHY FORCE A BLACK GIRL ? JUST TO "SHOW" THE WORLD THAT YOU "LOVE DIVERSITY" ? What the ****. A black girl playing the character of a WHITE GIRL, as if we wanted to be white. This is insulting. 

[KillersWhoArePartying]

she seems like she'd actually be good with the role

but yeah I do think it's annoying how whenever a white actress gets a role twitter goes nuts saying *insert black actor* would have been better for the part. It seems like people just want every role to be filled by black actors... just as there are people who want every role to be filled by white actors... both groups are annoying

I'm just glad they didn't choose Zendaya or Ariana... 

[KillersWhoArePartying]

On 7/3/2019 at 2:08 PM, DayvinDazone said:

But for God's sake sometimes it's just inappropriate to cast someone in the role of a white girl just for the sake of diversity. That's absurd.

ariana isnt white anymore tho... 

[fnfurter]

I just... don't care at all, and I'm already tired of watching people go at each other's throats about it. I'm so sick of these live action films. When they've finally live action made all of their princesses, can they go away for a while? 

[rawbrit]

she's a good actress I don't mind

edit: wait who?

 

[Shadow.]

absolute joke, I love disney but none of these live actions are appealing to me at all, i'll stick with the classics

[Cheshire-B]

I agree that it's weird to not get a white girl for the part of a white girl, but it's something that happened a lot the other way (getting white people to play black people) so... 
 

As a big lover of the little mermaid I wished they would have cast someone who really look like the cartoon version. But let's see how they handle this. Maybe it's re-written to happen somewhere near another country ? Maybe they will use the mermaid thing as a metaphore against racism ? 

I would have loved it to be played by Arianna but let's see how the movie turns out before hating it. 

[Brat]

She looks and sounds like Wynter Gordon (or Diana Gordon) now

She's pretty, young and has a good voice.  I don't see what the problem is 

Melissa McCarthy as Ursula tho?