THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) Dir. Rob Marshall

HALLE BAILEY “I was blown away by her. I was so impressed that she deals with everything with such graciousness and elegance. The more I worked with her, the more I realised how incredible she is and how born she was for this role.” - Jonah Hauer-King “She was the first person [to audition]. We said would you like to sing or read first and she said, "Well, I like to sing.” So she sang ‘Part of Your World’. I remember she shut her eyes and started to sing the song. By the end of the song I was in tears. I thought this is so moving. She’s so deeply connected to what she’s singing about and what she’s feeling. I remember turning to [John DeLuca] and saying “Have we found Ariel? This is the first person [we’ve seen].” We saw hundreds and hundreds of girls after that because we really needed to make sure this was the one. But she set the bar so high. With all of it. She had the incredible passion and stength but she also had vulnerability. A sort of other-worldliness, ethereal feel and look. And naive. She was only 18 when she first auditioned for us. It was the full package. She came back [to audition] many times. We did a screen test but ultimately we didn’t have to choose. She claimed the role.“ - Rob Marshall THE LITTLE MERMAID (2023) Dir. Rob Marshall

JONAH HAUER-KING & HALLE BAILEY “From the first day of rehearsals it was easy. We became friends very quickly and I think what’s nice about [the live-action version of Ariel and Eric] is that you really feel that friendship on-screen. I think it’s something really deep. Of course the romance is there but I think they find each other funny and they teach each other things. I think we brought a lot of stuff that [Halle and I] share off-screen into the film.” - Jonah “It was so much fun to have kind of a partner in crime to do this with because this was so new for me. I had never done anything like this and the fact that me and Jonah were both taking on such bigger roles than we have ever done was really like a bonding experience on its own.” - Halle

Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King guess each other’s impressions [x}

I repeat, Halle Bailey was born to be a Disney princess!

Jonah and Halle being the cutest, most hilarious besties! Jonah Hauer-King and Halle Bailey for Seventeen

JONAH HAUER-KING & HALLE BAILEY “The first time I met [Halle] was at my final audition at the screen test. Which, as you can imagine, is kind of a frightening experience and particularly when Disney do it because it’s on such a crazy scale. It could’ve been terrifying but as soon as I met her I felt so calm and then I left [after the screen test] and went back to my trailer and a few minutes later there was this knock on the door and it was [Halle]. I said, “Hi.” She said, “Hello.” And just said, “You did such a good job. It was such a pleasure to meet you. Hope to see you around.” It meant so much to me. Obviously I had no idea if she was doing that to all the guys who were auditioning or if it was just me. Turned out it was just me. It was really special and that’s where the frienship started.“