Daveed Diggs; Halle Bailey.Photo: Jesse Grant/Getty Images for Disney; VALERIE MACON/AFP via Getty Images
Daveed Diggstruly thinks it’s “incredible” thatHalle Baileyis playing Ariel inThe Little Mermaid.
The actor, best known for his role in the hip-hop musicalHamilton, chatted with PEOPLE about Bailey’s casting at the movie’s world premiere in Los Angeles on Monday evening.
“I think it’s incredible,” said Diggs, 41. “Obviously, it’s important for Black and Brown kids and for kids of all ethnicities to get to look up on the screen and feel like the story is theirs, too. I’m so thrilled about that.”
Diggs, whoplays the beloved character Sebastianin the film, continued, “I’m also thrilled that it is Halle, of anybody. She’s wonderful.”
“This is the only person who should be playing this role,” he added.
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Halle Bailey.Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic
Bailey recently talked about the experience of making the long-awaited movie, and why the role of Ariel is so important to her, in a May cover story forEbony.
For the actress andChloe x Hallesinger, 23, playing Ariel meant staying authentic to herself — and her hair.
“There was a time when we’d barely see locs — and now we have a Disney Princess with them, which has never happened before,” she toldEbony. “It was superimportant for me to have my natural hairin this film. I was really grateful to [director]Rob Marshall, because he wanted to keep my locs. It’s always important to have somebody to cosign.”
“I’ve had my locs since I was 5, so they’re a huge part of who I am,” Bailey went on. “We need to be able to see ourselves, we need to be able to see our hair on big screens like this, so that we know that it’s beautiful and more than acceptable.”
When asked whether a Black Ariel was something she would have liked to see as a child, Bailey answered in the affirmative.
“What I love about today [is that it’s normalized],” she said. “Somebody told me the other day, ‘[This generation of kids are] not even going to know the first version [ofThe Little Mermaid]. Their version of Ariel is you.’ "
Halle Bailey inThe Little Mermaid(2023).Disney
ComposerAlan Menken— who wrote the music for the originalLittle Mermaidmovie — said he and lyricistLin-Manuel Mirandamodified some of the song’s lyrics for the live-action film because of their negative messaging, according to an interview withVanity Fairpublished March 31.
“There are some lyric changes in ‘Kiss the Girl’ because people have gotten very sensitive about the idea that [Prince Eric] would, in any way, force himself on [Ariel],” revealed Menken, 73.
He added of the villain’s signature song, “We have some revisions in ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ regarding lines that might make young girls somehow feel that they shouldn’t speak out of turn, even thoughUrsula is clearly manipulating Arielto give up her voice.”
The Little Mermaidswims into theaters May 26.
source: people.com
