Photo: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic
ForHalle Bailey, performing “Part of Your World” in the live-actionThe Little Mermaidwas “of course” her favorite song to sing.
The musician, who turns 22 on Sunday, appeared on the red carpet of the94th annual Academy Awardsalongside her older sisterChloë. (Together, the sisters make up the musical duoChloe x Halle.)
“Of course, ‘Part of Your World,'” she said with a laugh of the song that Ariel sings as she dreams about the world above water. “Yep, that’s my number one.”
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Leon Bennett/Getty; Walt Disney/Everett
Disneyannouncedin July 2019 that Bailey would be taking on the role of Ariel.
“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,” director Rob Marshall said in a statement at the time.
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Bailey announced thecompletion of filmingin an Instagram post in September 2021, sharing a photo of herself sitting in the ocean at sunset.
The forthcoming film also stars other big names in Hollywood, includingJavier Bardemas King Triton, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric,Jacob Tremblayas Flounder,Melissa McCarthyas Ursula,Daveed Diggsas Sebastian andAwkwafinaas Scuttle.
RELATED VIDEO:Daveed Diggs on Playing Sebastian in the New ‘Little Mermaid’
Last month,Lin-Manuel Mirandarevealed that the new songs featured in the live-action adaptation won’t replace any of the classics.
The 42-year-old actor, who is collaborating with composerAlan Menkenon the film, opened up about the songs that will be featured during a conversation onVariety’s Awards Circuit podcast.
“Alan will tell you if he does not like something,” Miranda said of Menken, 72. “He’s a very like heart and opinion on sleeve guy. … He’s scoring it as well, along with the songs, just as he did with the original.”
Noting that he “won’t see a rough cut for another month or a couple of months,” Miranda said Menken’s own excitement makes him excited to see the film.
“We wrote three or four original tunes, replacing none of the ones you like. All of those are in,” Miranda added toVarietyof the classic songs, including “Under the Sea” and “Poor Unfortunate Souls.”
“There’s no biggerLittle Mermaidfan than me,” he added. “… But we found a couple of opportunities for some other music that I can’t wait to see. I’m in the dark as anyone else, honestly.”
Of the new songs, Miranda said that Bailey’s Ariel will sing a track in the second half of the film when she loses her voice and becomes a human.
“Rob found a creative way to hear from Ariel, even though she is sans voice for a little while. We wrote some music [for] her time on land. She experiences a lot of firsts, as someone with legs for the first time, so we got to lean into all of that musically,” Miranda explained.
source: people.com
