(Photo by Lisa Maree Williams/Getty Images)
Halle Bailey says she was brought to tears upon seeing young Black girls’ reactions to her role as Ariel in the live-action remake of “The Little Mermaid.”
In a recent interview with Glamour, Halle opened up about seeing the reaction videos to the film’s extended trailer.
“When I saw those for the first time, I just cried,” she told the magazine. “I was sobbing uncontrollably. The fact that these babies are looking at me and feeling the emotions that they’re feeling is a really humbling, beautiful thing.”
She said of the trailer’s early reception:
“When I watch the babies react and they’re proud of me and they’re happy with how [the movie] looks, I’m just so happy with that reaction. It almost heals something within me and my spirit.”
Halle told the outlet that as children, she and her sister Chlöe idolized Beyonce and Destiny’s Child. But there wasn’t enough representation in film and television mirroring the sisters, she said.
The 2009 Disney animated film The Princess and the Frog did it for Halle, especially Black actress and singer Anika Noni Rose as Tiana.
“I know how much of that movie changed my whole perspective on life,” she says. “Wow, this is possible. Black princesses are possible. We deserve to take up these spaces too.”
Halle’s debut film premiered to exclusive audiences in Hollywood earlier this month to much anticipation. Meanwhile, the greater public has had to wait a bit longer to watch it. However, several celebrities, including Offset, Kelly Rowland, and Chlöe Bailey, were personally invited to an exclusive early screening.
“The Little Mermaid” hits theaters Friday (May 26), according to USA Today.
