They’ve Finally Cast Ariel In ‘The Little Mermaid’ Remake And Everyone’s Obsessed
Disney has made an excellent choice!
In life, three things are inevitable: death, taxes, and the unstoppable scourge of the Disney remake machine, which is trawling over our childhoods like those octopus-robots in The Matrix and fixing its metal claws on a new prey, this time the light musical fantasy The Little Mermaid.
Yep, like it or lump it, now that the entertainment consortium has spat out fresh takes on everything from Dumbo to Aladdin — with, let’s call them mixed results — it has turned its glowing eye onto the Hans Christian Anderson-inspired animated classic.
But despite that, the cast assembling for this new take on The Little Mermaid looks genuinely promising.
Comedic genius Melissa McCarthy is set to tackle the tentacled Ursula, the exuberant Rob Marshall is going to take the reins behind the camera, and perhaps most excitingly of all, Halle Bailey has been plucked for the role of Ariel.
For those who don’t know Bailey, she rose to fame as one half of the R&B duo Chloe x Halle, even recieving support as a singer from Beyonce herself. By contrast, her film career is a little light on the ground — she’s probably best known onscreen for her work in the Queen Latifah comedy Last Holiday. But that’s definitely going to change now that she’s scored the part of Ariel, one of the most coveted roles in Hollywood.
Which, judging from her Twitter, she’s very chuffed about — looks like she’s an Ariel stan herself.
dream come true… 🧜🏽♀️🌊 pic.twitter.com/sndjYUS6wO
— chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) July 3, 2019
Oh, and the rest of the internet (aside from a bunch of racists that it’s always better to ignore) is pretty chuffed too.
Black Twitter reacting to the news that Halle Bailey from the group ChloeXHalle was cast as Ariel in Disney's Live Action Little Mermaid pic.twitter.com/QiBEOG2awy
— Matthew A. Cherry 🏁 (@MatthewACherry) July 3, 2019
can’t believe y’all don’t want her to be ariel. listen to her. wish ursula took away this bird app from some of you pic.twitter.com/LEgmy8cFph
— mj (@kingofcampp) July 4, 2019
I always thought she would have locs 🧜🏽♀️ #ariel #thelittlemermaid @chloexhalle pic.twitter.com/lHsIeMyNBO
— Vashti Harrison (@VashtiHarrison) July 4, 2019
The Ariel we deserve and needed. 🙌🏾😍🔥 pic.twitter.com/LevwXmrXbV
— xoNecole (@xonecole) July 4, 2019
A black woman is gonna be Ariel. YA HEAR THAT?! A BLACK WOMAN AS THE LEAD CHARACTER ON THE LITTLE MERMAID. WE THRIVING
— ʌǝʞ ⓚ (@KKaiser32) July 3, 2019
When I was little, the Little Mermaid was my favorite movie, though I kept that fact secret. It appealed to my scared little trans girl heart.
I’m excited to see Ariel played by a Black actress.
— Katelyn Burns (@transscribe) July 4, 2019
Me looking at all of these 'I'm not racist but Ariel is white!' tweets pic.twitter.com/Dxy1FKJHAW
— Erik Anderson (@awards_watch) July 4, 2019
Of course, The Little Mermaid doesn’t even have a release date yet, so we’ve got a while to see how this all turns out.