Stars hit red carpet for Sydney premiere of Little Mermaid: photos
Hollywood stars Melissa McCarthy and Halle Bailey have hit the red carpet in Sydney for the premiere of the Disney classic, The Little Mermaid.
Confidential
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“Terrifying and thrilling, like a fever dream”: that his how Hollywood star Melissa McCarthy has described being cast in the live action reimagination of Disney classic, The Little Mermaid.
McCarthy, who plays sea witch Ursula, and Halle Bailey, playing mermaid princess Ariel, are in Sydney for the Australian premiere of the much anticipated film at Sydney’s State Theatre on Monday night.
“It is the fun of what I get to do that it is a little bit terrifying, it is a little bit thrilling, like oh my god,” McCarthy told The Daily Telegraph on the special blue carpet that saw hundreds of fans line the street outside the State Theatre.
“Each day I was like, ‘I can’t believe I get to do this’. Even if I just got to do all of the rehearsals and they replaced me, it would still have been the best time I’ve ever had. There are no negatives here.”
The original animated musical film The Little Mermaid was based loosely on the 1837 fairy tale by Hans Christian Andersen and was released in 1989 with Jodi Benson voicing Ariel and Pat Carroll as Ursula.
It won countless awards, among two Academy Awards and two Grammy Awards.
The 2023 film is directed by Rob Marshall, of Chicago, Memoirs of a Geisha, Nine and Mary Poppins Returns fame, with the cast also including Awkwafina, Daveed Diggs, Jonah Hauer-King and Javier Bardem.
“It was daunting, no doubt,” Marshall said.
“When I started this process, I thought, wow. The thing that carried me through the whole process was the actual message of the film. I went back to the Hans Christian Andersen tale and it was really ironic, a modern story from like 1837, and a contemporary story about a young girl who doesn’t feel she fits in and doesn’t feel she belongs and doesn’t feel right in her life.
“Against all odds she takes this epic journey to build a bridge between her world and people that are different to her. It was this wonderful antidote to the division we are feeling in the world and I felt it was a wonderful reminder that we are ultimately all one. That is what the film teaches us and it was powerful, even though it was impossible to make, it took four and a half years but ultimately I felt like it was worth telling the story.”
Bailey, 23, meanwhile is a singer and actor known for being one half of music duo Chloe x Halle.
Together, they have been nominated for five Grammy Awards. She is also known for appearing in TV sitcom Grown-ish.
“I just feel so grateful to be a part of this project, this was one of my favourite Disney movies when I was a little girl,” Bailey said. “Getting to play Ariel is just a dream come true.”
It is Bailey’s first trip to Australia and while in whirlwind of promotion and red carpets, the actor is taking nothing for granted.
“I am so grateful and I am just trying to take all of this in,” she said.
“I think honestly a part of me is honestly not (prepared) … I am just in a state of shock and excitement and gratefulness. I am very humbled by all of this. It is very surreal. It hits me sometimes.”
The Little Mermaid opens in cinemas on May 25.
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