If the first thing you notice in the “The Little Mermaid” opening scene isn’t Halle Bailey’s abs, you’re lying.
“Well, the six pack is gone now, but it was there when I was filming,” Bailey jokes during a video chat with USA TODAY for Friday’s release of the new live-action movie.
Taking on the role of a beloved and ethereal Disney princess may seem like light work to us commoners, but Bailey, 23, assures it was anything but. Aside from missing her older sister and “right arm” Chlöe Bailey while filming (it was the first time in their lives they’d been split up), one thing the Grammy-nominated artist found particularly challenging about playing Ariel was the physicality of it all.
Halle Bailey’s transformation into Ariel was physically and mentally intense
Halle Bailey says one of the biggest challenges about playing Ariel was how physically demanding the role was.
All the things Bailey had to do in preparation for transforming into Ariel, from the swimming to the acting and the singing, was physically, mentally and spiritually intense, she says.
“Looking back, I’m really proud of myself, but it was like it was blood, sweat and tears. … I’ve been pushing myself to the limits, past what I thought I could ever do in my life,” says Bailey, who next stars as Nettie in the Oprah- and Steven Spielberg-produced “The Color Purple” (expected Dec. 25).
During filming, the “Ungodly Hour” singer would start her days at the crack of dawn. She’d be in the gym every day at 5 a.m. for a workout, then make her way over to stunts, where she would spend hours in the air in a harness.
Prince Eric (Jonah Hauer-King) and Ariel (Halle Bailey) share a love for exploration in “The Little Mermaid.”
“I’m trying to hold myself up with my core while singing and while acting and trying to look like I’m not shaking because it’s like a workout I’m doing, like a plank. So it was all of the things, trying to weave them together and look like, ‘This is natural, this is a normal day, I swim in the ocean every day,’ ” the actress says.
