'The Little Mermaid's Halle Bailey On The Impact Of Locs & The Chemistry With Jonah Hauer-King

Narcity USA

"The Little Mermaid" stars Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King sat down with Narcity's Brooke Houghton to chat all about the upcoming live-action remake of the Disney classic. Hauer-King, who plays Prince Eric, and Bailey, who plays Ariel, spoke to Brooke about their on-screen chemistry and even the possibility of a "The Little Mermaid" sequel. Bailey also revealed the impact of her character having locs and the significance of Black representation on screen while Hauer-King dished about his character’s backstory.

Transcript

00:00It fills my heart with so much joy.

00:02I get really emotional thinking about it.

00:04That was really special in the film to really set that up

00:07because I think because of it, we really understood

00:09why they felt for each other.

00:11Hey, Jonah. Hey, Hallie.

00:12I'm so excited to be chatting with you guys today.

00:15Hi, we're excited.

00:16Good to be here. Yeah, nice to meet you.

00:18Nice to meet you and congratulations.

00:20My first question is for you, Hallie.

00:22So many viral videos have gone viral

00:24of young girls seeing themselves represented on screen

00:26with you as Ariel. How does that make you feel?

00:29It makes me feel so incredible to see these reactions of these babies and children.

00:34And it fills my heart with so much joy.

00:37I get really emotional thinking about it, seeing them.

00:40It's like my favorite part of the day whenever my friends send them to me.

00:43And it makes me feel like the work that we did truly, truly matters.

00:47And it is so important for these babies to be able to see themselves.

00:50So I am just grateful to even witness these reactions.

00:55So beautiful.

00:56And I know you've previously talked about having locks since you were five years old

00:59and the emotional weight that hair carries for black women.

01:02What does it mean for you to see Ariel with these beautiful red locks?

01:05Yes. Thank you for that question.

01:07I mean, it means everything to me to be able to see my new version of Ariel have my hair,

01:14have my locks.

01:15And like you said, for black women, hair is such a beautiful, spiritual thing.

01:20Our crowns are so important to us.

01:22And I think it's important for you to be able to see a princess who embraces her locks,

01:27who embraces her hair.

01:28And, you know, I feel like a mermaid would have a fusion of like locks and with regular hair,

01:34much like in the movie.

01:35So I love doing it.

01:36Well, you look absolutely beautiful in it.

01:38And Jonah, my next question is for you.

01:40We see a lot more Prince Eric in this movie.

01:42What in his backstory makes him so well-suited for Ariel?

01:45I think it's curiosity.

01:47And I think it's a passion for exploring.

01:52I think it's a passion for adventure.

01:54I think they're both very outwards-looking people.

01:57I think they want to know what's out there.

02:00They want to meet new people.

02:01They want to find new places.

02:02And they're really drawn to that.

02:04And I think as a result, they're drawn to one another.

02:06And I think that was really special in the film to really set that up,

02:10because I think because of it, we really understood why they fell for each other

02:14and why they were willing to risk everything for each other.

02:17I think the relationship felt really earned and justified.

02:22Yeah, I loved seeing more of you in the film

02:24and getting to know Prince Eric a little bit more.

02:26You know, you and Halle have such incredible chemistry on screen.

02:29How did you guys work to develop that off screen?

02:32It was tough.

02:33It didn't come naturally.

02:34Yeah, so hard.

02:35It was very difficult.

02:36It was one of the more challenging parts of this job.

02:39Yeah, it was terrible.

02:41It was terrible.

02:42Honestly, it was super easy.

02:44I think as you've seen the film, you see it on screen,

02:47I think what's lovely about this version is you see the friendship between them.

02:52And the romance is there, of course.

02:54But I think that humor and that friendship and wanting to be around each other all the time

02:59and making each other laugh and teaching each other things,

03:02I think that came naturally to us.

03:04It was like that from day one.

03:07So, yeah.

03:09I mean, that's me.

03:10I'm sure you found it very difficult.

03:12No, I feel the exact same.

03:14You know, I think it was a really cool bonding experience for both Jonah and I

03:18because this film is like massive and we had never done anything on this level before.

03:23So I think that we were just connecting off of the fact that we were really just trying to put our all into these roles

03:29and the fact that we spent a lot of time together on set and we were encouraging each other like,

03:33you can do this.

03:34You got it.

03:35You got it.

03:36Go, go Prince.

03:37You got it.

03:38Like it was just, it was really a genuine friendship there from the beginning.

03:42That's incredible.

03:43And you guys actually hung out outside of this too as friends, right?

03:46I heard something about a concert.

03:48Yeah.

03:49Well, yeah, I think, do you mean because I arrived in LA on Wednesday and the first thing I did was I went to see Halle's sister Chloe perform

03:58and I got two for the price of one because then Halle went on stage and performed as well, which is amazing.

04:04No, it's great.

04:05I mean, Halle's, you've looked after me while I've been here and we were in London filming.

04:09I tried to show her a few of the spots that I hang out in.

04:13So, yeah, it's a reciprocal thing.

04:16My last question for you guys is there is a The Little Mermaid 2.

04:20What are the chances we see you both in a sequel?

04:23Oh.

04:24In the second one, I think, do they become, what happens there?

04:27They become a mum.

04:28In the second one, they have a girl, a baby girl, and she wants to go into the water.

04:33It's like the reverse thing.

04:35I love that movie.

04:36Yeah, I would be up for doing it.

04:38I kind of would like to also be a merman.

04:41Yeah.

04:42If we can also somehow evolve that storyline to go with her.

04:46Swim in the water.

04:47Yeah, you'd see me swim in the water.

04:49Well, I love it.

04:50I'm excited.

04:51I want to see it happen.

04:52I'd love to see you both back in some mermaid tails.

04:54Thank you guys so much for taking the time to chat and congratulations on an incredible film.

04:58Thank you very much.

04:59Thank you very much.

05:00Thanks for watching.

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