After 34 years, Disney returns under the sea with its live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, premeiring in theaters on May 26. The new version stars Halle Bailey, most known for her role in the Grammy-nominated Chloe x Halle R&B duo, as Ariel in the actress's first starring feature film role.
' Halle Bailey stars as Ariel in the live-action remake of the classic Disney animated film. Casting a Black actress in the role caused quite a splash — which inspired us to look back at two of Disney's forays into Black princess movies.
Last year, when Disney announced they cast Halle Bailey, a Black singer and actress, to play Ariel, a mermaid-turned-princess in their live-action musical rendition of The Little Mermaid, the Black community started bracing for impact.
As with all the other roles in the film, director Rob Marshall was determined to find the perfect person for the job. In the end, he landed on Jessica Alexander, the young actress who shares the sea witch with McCarthy. "Our Vanessa, she's such a wonderful actor," Marshall tells EW.
Who is the black deaf mermaid in The Little Mermaid?
Gabriella is a recurring character in the animated series The Little Mermaid. She is a deaf mermaid who communicates in American Sign Language. Her friend Ollie, an octopus, serves as her interpreter.
On the significance of casting a Black actress as Ariel
Sherri Hope Culver: To have a Disney character who is not just a princess but a live-action, real flesh and blood person that children can be inspired by is important. This is because people of color are less likely to see themselves reflected in the media.
In Disney's nearly 100-year history, there has been only one Black Disney princess — Princess Tiana in “The Princess and the Frog,” a 2009 animated feature starring Anika Noni Rose.
(MORE: 'Little Mermaid Live': Who will play Ariel, Ursula, Sebastian and more!) Queen Latifah stars alongside actress Auli'i Cravalho who will play Ariel and reggae singer Shaggy who will play Ariel's friend, Sebastian.
“I had done a photoshoot for Disney a few years back where Annie Leibowitz shot me as Ursula,” Queen Latifah told “GMA” in an exclusive interview. “So when this popped up, it was like, OK, a TV production. Alright … Once they explained to me the way that they wanted to do it, I thought it was interesting.”
Vanessa is Ursula's human alter ego from The Little Mermaid film. She is an extremely beautiful and seductive woman who brainwashes Prince Eric into loving her instead of Ariel.
Ariel, is a fictional character, with no defined skin color in her original material. She was originally written by a Danish author in the 1800s. She has been portrayed in ballet and movies by Asian, Russian, and mixed-race individuals, her cartoon depictions are typically pale.
Are there any black characters in The Little Mermaid?
A new "Little Mermaid" is now part of our world, with a fresh take on the old-school Disney classic, a live-action remake starring 23-year-old Halle Bailey, a Black singer and actress, in the lead role of Ariel.
How much did Halle Bailey get paid for Little Mermaid?
It's believed that Bailey made about $1.5 million for her role as Ariel in The Little Mermaid, but that number could increase depending on how well the film performs opening weekend and beyond.
There were a lot of very confused people a few years ago when it was revealed that Halle Bailey had been cast as the live-action Ariel and people, who did not know Bailey from her music career, believed that Halle Berry had been cast in the role.
In the film's prologue, about two years have passed since King Triton gave Ariel his blessing to become a human and marry Prince Eric. Since then, Ariel has officially become Eric's consort and has given birth to a beautiful baby girl, Melody.
Disney's Ariel is not the same as Anderson's little mermaid. The movie is loosely based on the fairy tale, so Disney has the freedom to give Ariel any skin color they want. In the 1989 movie, Ariel was born in the fictional underwater kingdom of Atlantica, which technically makes her Atlantican, not Danish.
At the BET Awards 2021, during her acceptance speech for the Lifetime Achievement Award, she publicly acknowledged her partner Eboni Nichols and son Rebel for the first time, ending the speech with "happy Pride!"
Disney's live-action version of the 1989 animated classic 'The Little Mermaid' hits theaters on Friday. This highly-anticipated film is also marking a moment in Disney history with Halle Bailey as the first Black Ariel.
Although Moana is from the fictional island Motunui some 3,000 years ago, the story and culture of Moana is based on the very real heritage and history of Polynesian islands such as Hawaii, Samoa, Tonga, and Tahiti.
Her country of origin, for example, has been frequently disputed. While some claim Jasmine is Arab because the movie opens with a song called Arabian Nights, others believe that the architecture in Agrabah is clearly based on the Taj Mahal, making Jasmine Indian.
