HOLLYWOOD, CALIFORNIA – MAY 08: Halle Bailey attends the World Premiere of Disney’s “The Little Mermaid” on May 08, 2023 in Hollywood, California. (Photo by Axelle/Bauer-Griffin/FilmMagic)

 

The highly anticipated live-action remake of The Little Mermaid had its world premiere in Los Angeles on Monday night (May 8th). Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about their roles in the film.

“I feel honored to be here today, I’m so grateful that everybody’s going to be able to watch it all together and I just cannot wait honestly,” Bailey said. The Grown-ish actress spent three months training to become a mermaid before filming. The hardest part about the process, she said, “was just mentally and physically being away from my sister [Chloe Bailey], who’s my best friend. But other than that it was a just a lot of strength training.”

To transform into Ursula, McCarthy said the director of the film, Rob Marshall, “had eight dancers around me and each dancer had an eight-foot long tentacle with suction cups and they had them on poles, so as I would float across or go up into the air there were people with me doing my tentacles. I was like, ‘Are we going to do this every day?’ And he goes, ‘I want you to know the space you take up,’ he’s like, ‘I want you to know when someone comes in that you’re 20 feet high looking down.’”

Stars such as Tamera Mowry-Housley, Tia Mowry, Offset, and Kelly Rowland all attended the premiere with their children.