After Beauty and the Beast, Aladdin or The Lion King, Disney delivers another adaptation of its classics with The Little Mermaid. Like the John Musker and Ron Clements feature film, we follow a young mermaid, Ariel, who wants to discover the human world. When she falls under Prince Eric’s spell, she is willing to do anything to live on dry land and agrees to make a pact with Ursula, the terrifying sea witch.
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It was American actress Holly Bailey who was chosen as Ariel. Passionate about music from an early age, he began writing and composing songs with his older sister Chloe when they were 13 and 11 before starting a YouTube channel. Their duet, Chloe x Halle, garnered millions of views thanks to their cover songs, and their idol, Beyoncé herself, noticed them and signed them to her label, Parkwood Entertainment, in 2015.
Holly Baillett and her sister Chloe in Grown-ish
Tandem
Then the family moved to Los Angeles. After a first EP in 2013 consisting of only covers, Chloe x Halle released a second in 2016, the first consisting of original tracks. They continue their ascent by performing on the first leg of Beyoncé’s Formation World Tour and racking up magazine covers and collaborations with other artists.
Holly Bailey’s career is inseparable from that of her sister: the two young women released two albums (Children are right and Ungodly hour) and played twins from 2018 to 2022 in the series Grown-ish, a spin-off of Black-ish.
A controversial choice
In 2019, when Disney Studios announced that Holly Bailey would be Ariel in the live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, the backlash was immediate, with some of them very hostile and pointing out that she was neither the Little Mermaid from the cartoon nor her. There are black people in Hans Christian Andersen’s fairy tale.
A controversy that has no place for Rob Marshall: “When I first saw Holly, she was very young, almost ethereal, with an angelic voice. In addition, she had a deep emotional connection to what she was singing. We had only one goal: to find the best actress for the role. We saw many candidates from different nationalities. There was really no agenda.”
At the London premiere of The Little Mermaid
For Bailey, it is a dream come true to participate in this film: “I remember watching The Little Mermaid, repeating it over and over, pretending I was Ariel, swimming underwater and humming her songs, but I never imagined I’d ever play her. A mermaid is something to set apart because she’s a wonderful mythical creature and a reflection of your inner self. That’s why so many young children She loves that character. It’s like I could be this magical being by being myself, and that’s exactly what made me special. That’s why Ariel resonates so strongly with me.”
Holly Bailey will be found in 2024 in the new adaptation of Alice Walker’s novel The Color Purple, which has already been brought to the screen by Steven Spielberg.
Source: Allocine
Rose James is a Gossipify movie and series reviewer known for her in-depth analysis and unique perspective on the latest releases. With a background in film studies, she provides engaging and informative reviews, and keeps readers up to date with industry trends and emerging talents.
