It’s giving Black girl mer-magic.
On day one of the D3 Fan Expo — September 9, 2022 — Disney snatched all our edges with their release of the very first teaser trailer for The Little Mermaid live-action remake with Halle Bailey embodying the title role of Ariel. A drop we’ve been waiting on since pre-pandemic times.
The 1:23 clip begins with a shot of ocean waves, followed by a dive into the deep blue amidst sea turtles, reefs, ship wreckage, and ultimately, one of the most famous scenes from the 1989 animated film — Ariel’s undersea grotto, filled with all her whozits and whatsits galore.
And, as Halle Bailey’s Ariel peers into the room, the instrumental “Part of Your World” that’s been playing in the background reaches a crescendo and sets off ALL THE FEELS! Ariel swims toward the surface, giving us our first real closeup, and soulfully sangs a line from the iconic song, “Out of the sea, wish I could be, part of that woooorld.”
In an interview with Variety after the trailer premiere, Halle shared it was her first time seeing everything put together, too. “I’m just pinching myself. I feel really kind of like out of body in a way,” she said. “Seeing myself play a character that I’ve loved for so long and just putting my own twist to it, I’m just so grateful to be here.”
Joining Halle Bailey, The Little Mermaid cast also stars Daveed Diggs as the voice of Sebastian, Javier Bardem as King Triton, Jonah Hauer-King as Prince Eric, and Melissa McCarthy as Ursula, just to name a few.
“I think because this film has meant so much to me in my heart, since I was a little girl, I really feel like the little girl inside of me was like, “OK, Halle, you can’t mess this up. You gotta do your best,” she told The Hollywood Reporter at the D3 Expo. “The fact that I get to kinda represent all of these little Black and brown boys and girls who are to come is really special to me ’cause I know that if I had that when I was younger, it would have changed my whole perspective on life.”
If the few seconds we see of Halle in this trailer are any indication (and we high-key think they are), she ate this role and left nothing behind. Stay hype because The Little Mermaid hits theaters on May 26, 2023. Until then, peep the teaser below — again and again and again.
Main Image: Screenshot/YouTube
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