Haille Bailey as The little Mermaid
When I first heard of the casting, my mind was confused for a bit, as the name was similar to Halle Berry, who is in her 50s. My first thought that the adaptation was aging up characters, to give a different spin on it.
Then I reread the name.
I have not heard of this young woman before, but a short walk through the internet, she started singing covers on Youtube with her sister Chloe. They have scattered acting credits, the most prominent being that both sisters were cast in Black-ish’s first spin-off series, Grown-ish, as twins, despite Halle being at the time of casting being underaged. They also contributed to the theme song. Both of them has worked with Beyonce, having being brought onto Parkwood Entertainment, which was founded by Beyonce.
Relatively recently, there has been more of a expansion of diversity at Disney, one of the most notable being Aladdin for having several POC actors and actresses in main roles (where as in the original, while they were amazing, were played by white people). While I am still on the fence of having several adaptations from older Disney movies (we’re didn’t really need a adaptation of Dumbo where most of it is focused on the circus), if there is a way to bring more recognition to adding more princesses who have a different skin and more movies where a person of color is the star in a original disney-lead movie.
Now that they have Halle locked in, I can’t wait to see what’s on the horizon for the future of this film, set to be released later on in 2019.
It will truly be a part of our world.
