"The Little Mermaid" stars Halle Bailey and Jonah Hauer-King sat down with Narcity's Brooke Houghton to chat all about the upcoming live-action remake of the Disney classic. Hauer-King, who plays Prince Eric, and Bailey, who plays Ariel, spoke to Brooke about their on-screen chemistry and even the possibility of a "The Little Mermaid" sequel. Bailey also revealed the impact of her character having locs and the significance of Black representation on screen while Hauer-King dished about his character’s backstory.
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00:00Fills my heart with so much joy. I get really emotional thinking about it
00:03That was really special in the film to to really set that up because I think because of it
00:08We really understood why they fell for each other. Hey, Jonah. Hey, Hallie. I'm so excited to be chatting with you guys today
00:15Good to be here. Yeah, nice to meet you. Nice to meet you and congratulations. My first question is for you Hallie
00:21So many viral videos have gone viral of young girls seeing themselves represented on screen with you as Ariel
00:27How does that make you feel it makes me feel so incredible to see these reaction of these babies and children and
00:34It fills my heart with so much joy. I get really emotional thinking about it seeing them
00:39It's like my favorite part of the day whenever my friends send them to me and it makes me feel like the work that we did
00:46Truly truly matters and it is so important for these babies to be able to see themselves
00:50So I am just grateful to even witness these reactions
00:54So beautiful and I know you've previously talked about having locks since you were five years old and the emotional weight that hair carries for black
01:01Women, what did it mean for you to see Ariel with these beautiful red locks? Yes. Thank you for that question
01:07I mean it means everything to me to be able to see
01:11My new version of Ariel have my hair have my locks and you like you said for black women hair is such a beautiful
01:19Spiritual thing our crowns are so important to us and I think it's important for you to be able to see a
01:25princess who embraces her locks who embraces her hair and
01:28You know
01:29I feel like a mermaid would have a fusion of like locks and and with regular hair much like in the movie
01:35So I love doing it. Well, you look absolutely beautiful in it and Jonah. My next question is for you
01:40We see a lot more Prince Eric in this movie. What in his backstory makes him so well suited for Ariel. I
01:46Think it's curiosity and I think it's a passion for
01:52Exploring I think it's a passion for adventure. I think they're both very outwards looking people
01:57I think they want to know what's out there. They want to meet new people
02:01They want to find new places and they're really drawn to that and I think as a result
02:05They're drawn to one another and I think that was really special in the film to to really set that up because I think
02:11Because of it we really understood why they fell for each other and why they were willing to risk everything for each other
02:17I think the relationship felt really aren't and and
02:21Justified. Yeah, I love seeing more of you in the film and getting to know Prince Eric a little bit more
02:26You know, you and Hallie have such incredible chemistry on screen. How did you guys work to develop that off-screen?
02:32It's tough
02:34It was very difficult it was one of the more challenging
02:41It was honestly it was super easy
02:44I think as you seen you've seen the film you see it on screen
02:47I think what's lovely about this version is you see the friendship between them and the romance is there of course
02:53but I think that that humor and that friendship and and
02:57Wanting to be around each other all the time and making each other laugh and teaching each other things
03:02I think that came naturally to us. It was like that from from day one
03:07So, yeah, I mean, that's me
03:12No, I I feel the exact same
03:14You know
03:14I think it was a really cool bonding experience for both Jonah and I because this film is like
03:20Massive and we had never done anything on this level before
03:23so I think that we were just connecting off of the fact that
03:26We were really just trying to put our all into these roles and the fact that we spent a lot of time together on set
03:32And we were encouraging each other like you can do this. You got it. You got it. Go go Prince
03:36You got it. Like it was just it was really a genuine friendship there from the beginning
03:42That's incredible. And you guys actually hung out outside of this to his friends, right? I heard something about a concert. Oh
03:48Well, yeah, I think do you mean cuz I arrived in LA on on Wednesday?
03:53And the first thing I did was I went to see
03:56Hallie sister Chloe perform and I got two for the price of one because then Hallie went on stage and performed as well
04:02Which is amazing. No, it's great
04:04I mean how these you've looked after me while I've been here and we were in London filming
04:09I tried to show her a few of the spots that I hang out in. So yeah, it's a reciprocal thing
04:15My last question for you guys is there is a Little Mermaid 2. What are the chances we see you both in a sequel?
04:22Oh in the second one, I think
04:25They do they become what happens there? They become one. They have a girl
04:29Yeah, baby girl, and she wants to go into the water. It's like the reverse thing
04:34I love that movie. Yeah, I would I would be up for doing it. I kind of would like to also be a merman
04:40Yeah, so you can also
04:43Somehow evolve that storyline to go with her
04:54Thank you guys so much for taking the time to chat and congratulations on an incredible film, thank you very much
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