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The 23-year-old plays the mermaid princess who
dreams of being a human in the movie, which had its world
premiere in Los Angeles on Monday night, more than 30 years
after the original was released.
"My hopes for this film are just for people to take away such
love and joy and happiness when they leave and especially for
all of the Black and brown little... boys and girls to be able
to see themselves being represented on such a big scale," Bailey
told Reuters.
"I'm just honored to be in this position."
There was a racist backlash online when the film's trailer was
released last year, but many videos were also posted showing
delighted Black children on seeing her as the Disney princess.
"It's so important for little girls to see themselves in things,
in movies, in representation," said Awkwafina (Nora Lum), who
voices the seagull Scuttle.
Melissa McCarthy takes on the role of the villainous Ursula,
Javier Bardem plays King Triton and Jonah Hauer-King portrays
Ariel's love interest, Eric.
"We all love that instinctive romance that you have between
Disney characters but in a live action version ... we wanted
something maybe even deeper," Hauer-King said of the new film's
approach to Ariel and Eric's romance.
The film's premiere took place amid a nearly week-long strike by
thousands of film and television writers in Hollywood.
"There is not such a thing as a storytelling without writers.
They're the base of what we do and I hope they get the respect
and the treatment that they deserve in these negotiations,"
Bardem said.
(Reporting by Rollo Ross; Writing by Rollo Ross and Marie-Louise
Gumuchian; Editing by Sharon Singleton)
(Photo: Cast member Halle Bailey attends the premiere of the
film "The Little Mermaid" in Los Angeles, California, U.S., May
8, 2023. REUTERS/Mario Anzuoni)
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