Halle Bailey Recalls Being 'So Scared & So Nervous' Auditioning For 'The Little Mermaid'

Halle Bailey Recalls Being 'So Scared & So Nervous' Auditioning For 'The Little Mermaid'

Halle Bailey is opening up about landing the role of Ariel in the live action The Little Mermaid.

When it was announced the 21-year-old was cast in the role, she received a lot of praise, but a lot of backlash as well.

Many were holding up the image of the original cartoon character, with her red hair and pale skin, and Halle even admitted that that was the Ariel she loved as well.

Although she recalled being scared and nervous during the audition process, she then saw the opportunity as a positive, being able to show little girls of color the possibilities of what they can be.

Click inside to see what Halle said…

“Getting that role felt very surreal. It was much of a shocker for me,” she said on Facebook’s Talks with Mama Tina. “Even when I was asked to audition, I looked at it and I was like me? For Ariel? That just doesn’t… ‘Cause you know, my image of Ariel that I’ve had is the red hair, the pale skin and the tail, and she was amazing to me. I loved her, like we all did. But that’s what I’ve seen her as for so long.”

“So even the auditioning process, I remember being so scared and so nervous. I think my dad, he one time was like, ‘Let’s run through the lines,’ and he was like okay.. And I started reading them and I just started sobbing. He’s like, ‘Halle, what’s wrong? What’s wrong?’” she continued.

“I’m just, ‘I can’t believe I’m even gonna go for this.’ But [I'm] so grateful that I kind of get to reinvent Ariel and show other young, beautiful black and brown children that hey, you can be this too. You are magical and mythical and all of the wonderful things in between as well.”

Halle added that going into the movie, she had to reassure herself that she could do it, one of the first projects by herself without her sister Chloe.

“So going into the filming process, I had to learn and say to myself that you can do it and it’s okay, and that my sister is here, and she was. It was just a beautiful experience for me to kind of spread my wings in that way,” she said.

If you missed it, see what Halle‘s The Little Mermaid co-star Javier Bardem said about her…

In case you didn’t know, The Little Mermaid won’t be released until 2023!

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Photos: Getty
Posted to: Halle Bailey, The Little Mermaid