Halle Bailey on Ariel's Desire and The Little Mermaid Themes

The Little Mermaid star Halle Bailey recently opened up about how she can relate to the character of Ariel and her desire to know more. The actress told The Face about the remake's themes of overcoming fear and how much she loved those ideas.

"I felt like God was aligning themes in my life with the character. Ariel has this desire for something more," Bailey said. , but she must be brave to find it on her own. Being away from everyone for the first time in my life, I really loved those themes of knowing there's nothing wrong with being scared and getting through it."

The star also spoke about his appreciation for Ariel's hair in the live-action remake, as the title character has locs in this rendition.

"As a black woman, hair is spiritual, especially locs," Bailey explained. "It was really cool for them to make Ariel a version of me with my locs. I feel like that's what mermaid hair would be anyway."

For this new version of The Little Mermaid, Disney teamed up Lin-Manuel Miranda with Alan Menken—who also wrote the songs for the 1989 animated film alongside Howard Ashman—to create a mix of old and new songs that will be featured in the next big screen release.

Disney's animated Little Mermaid grossed over $211 million at the box office and became a home video bestseller, popularizing songs like "Under The Sea" and "Part of Your World." The upcoming film is based on the short story by Hans Christian Andersen and the 1989 Disney animated film by Ron Clements and John Musker.