Halle Bailey has not been able to contain her excitement after it has been disclosed that she will be playing Ariel in the Little Mermaid live action of Disney.
The 19-year-old Chloe x Halle singer shared on Twitter a recreated picture of Ariel by artist Dylan Bonner, whose past projects included Disney princess illustrations.
Bailey tweeted “Dream come true…,” alongside Ariel’s image singing “Part of Your World” while waves crashed behind her.
The picture tale goes back to Valentine’s Day 2015, when a guy, Brian Flynn, commissioned Bonner to create pictures of each Disney princess in the image of his girlfriend Manini Gupta.
At that time, in a blog post, Flynn explained he and Gupta “LOVE Disney films” and that he wanted their “relationship to be as epic and timeless as the animations on which we grew.”
“So, I decided to have us painted into some famous Disney scenes and surprise her for Valentine’s Day, I had my incredibly talented friend Dylan Bonner help me with the artwork.” Flynn wrote. In some of Disney’s most classic movies like Aladdin, Beauty and the Beast, Mulan, and Tangled, Bonner drew Flynn and Gupta.
Disney announced on Wednesday that Bailey was cast in Ariel’s role. Awkwafina and Jacob Tremblay, who are in star talks as Scuttle and Flounder, could join her. Melissa McCarthy is also said to star as the sea witch Ursula.
“After an extensive search, it was abundantly clear that Halle possesses that rare combination of spirit, heart, youth, innocence, and substance, plus a glorious singing voice, all intrinsic qualities necessary to play this iconic role,” – Rob Marshall.
Alan Menken, who wrote the score for the original animated film of 1989, will return to create new music alongside Lin-Manuel Miranda, winner of the Tony Award, who worked on Mary Poppins Returns with Marshall.
Bailey first became famous after she and her sister, Chloe, caught Beyoncé’s attention after their “Pretty Hurts” rendition in 2015.
The duo has since joined Beyoncé on tour as the opening act for The Formation World Tour’s European leg. Beyoncé is also starring in a live-action movie “The Lion King”, released later this month.
The siblings were also cast in Grown-ish as series regulars and wrote the show’s theme song. The Little Mermaid’s production is expected to start in early 2020.
