The Little Mermaid is set to make a huge movie star out of Halle Bailey if the first reactions are anything to go by, but she's revealed that she actually almost missed out on the casting call.
Talking at the press conference, where Digital Spy was in attendance, Bailey recalled the awkward moment where she was set to ignore director Rob Marshall's call that she was cast as Ariel.
"I think we had celebrated my sister's birthday the day before. We [had] rented an Airbnb, we were coming home, unloading everything, just in work mode, and then I got this call from Rob, and I don't answer unknown numbers," she explained.
"So I just thought like, 'Whatever, I'm not going to answer' and then my baby brother comes running to me and was like, 'Answer the phone', so I answered it. And Rob was like, 'Hello, I'm looking for Ariel'."
We're pretty sure that's one unknown number that Bailey is now very glad that she answered – although we have a feeling that Marshall would have tried to call her again.
The Little Mermaid has been a long time coming as the production was affected by the COVID pandemic, meaning that Bailey has been able to grow and learn from her role as Ariel in the process.
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"I tell people all the time [that] I feel like Ariel truly has helped me find myself and this young woman version of me. It's been five years of my life from 18 and now being 23," she reflected.
"Those are very intense, transformative years as you're developing as a young woman, and I feel like especially these themes of the film and what [Ariel] had to go through in terms of her passions, drive and speaking up for herself, even though it may be scary, she went for it. She's taught me so much."
Back in February, Bailey revealed that she expected the racist backlash to her casting as Ariel in the new movie. "As a Black person, you just expect it and it's not really a shock anymore," she said.
"When [sister Chlöe and I] first signed to Parkwood, Beyoncé was always like, 'I never read my comments. Don't ever read the comments.' When the teaser came out, I was at the D23 Expo and I was so happy. I didn't see any of the negativity."
The Little Mermaid is released in cinemas on May 26.
Movies Editor, Digital Spy Ian has more than 10 years of movies journalism experience as a writer and editor. Starting out as an intern at trade bible Screen International, he was promoted to report and analyse UK box-office results, as well as carving his own niche with horror movies, attending genre festivals around the world. After moving to Digital Spy, initially as a TV writer, he was nominated for New Digital Talent of the Year at the PPA Digital Awards. He became Movies Editor in 2019, in which role he has interviewed 100s of stars, including Chris Hemsworth, Florence Pugh, Keanu Reeves, Idris Elba and Olivia Colman, become a human encyclopedia for Marvel and appeared as an expert guest on BBC News and on-stage at MCM Comic-Con. Where he can, he continues to push his horror agenda – whether his editor likes it or not.
