‘You really learn by watching her’: Halle Bailey on Beyonce, taking chances, and her breakout role in The Little Mermaid

She’s one of Hollywood’s comedic stars but her latest role brought Melissa McCarthy to tears - more than once.

Melissa McCarthy is used to walking in other people’s shoes, so it feels fitting the Hollywood star’s own are sparkly, rhinestone-encrusted pointy-toed boots.

“I’m kinda crazy about them,” McCarthy says, as she knowingly smiles at Halle Bailey – her co-star in The Little Mermaid – who is sitting next to her. “They’re pink – and come on, guys, if we can’t wear a fun shoe, what are we doing?,” McCarthy adds, which sends Bailey into a fit of laughter.

The pair are sitting with The Sunday Telegraph in a Sydney hotel room, the morning after the Australian premiere of their movie, Disney’s live action adaptation of The Little Mermaid, in which Bailey stars as mermaid ingenue Ariel – the title role, of course – and McCarthy, as the villain octopus, Ursula.

Under the sea! Halle Bailey stars as Ariel in The Little Mermaid. Picture: AFP

Into the blue! Halle Bailey at the Australian premiere of The Little Mermaid at Sydney’s State Theatre. Picture: Getty Images

The original animated movie, released in 1989, prompts waves of nostalgia for those who saw it in childhood but as Oscar-nominee McCarthy notes, this version is not just a remake.

“There’s a reinterpretation of it, and the emotions and the relevance of what the story is really about hits harder,” McCarthy muses. She turns to lock eyes with Bailey: “Like, I have not make it through [without crying] once – I cry every time. I can’t make it through your opening song”.

“We always look at each other and I’m like, ‘well, here I go again!’”

So in the retelling of the Hans Christian Andersen fairy-tale, is there a broader meeting for a modern audience – is The Little Mermaid now a feminist story? A metaphor for modern dating?

Purple reign! Melissa McCarthy. Picture: Getty Images

Bailey reflects on Ariel’s relationship with prince suitor, Eric. “There’s a genuine connection they have, over their shared interests. And you know, with Ariel, it’s really cool to see her find herself as a young woman, and go through the things that she is scared of. She sacrifices a lot to achieve her dreams. The love story was really cool, to see their genuine connection.”

McCarthy chimes in: “Watching your relationship in the movie, it’s not like, ‘he’s cute and she’s dreamy’. There’s a commonality and a friendship, which is what a real relationship is really based on – and one that can sustain itself. “Watching that, is such a more mature way to look at what love is, and you fall in love with someone’s qualities.”

Taking on the role of Ariel was a huge undertaking for Bailey – she started shooting the film when she was 18, and upon the movie’s release, she is now 23.

“I was scared, and filled with this like anxiety and nervousness because I want to do a good job,” Bailey says, of the moment she found out she had landed the role.

Halle Bailey and Melissa McCarthy, far right, with The Little Mermaid director, Rob Marshall, in Sydney last week. Picture: Getty Images

“Not only for the little girl within me, but for everyone else who this movie has impacted so much.

“We all get so territorial over the stories we know and love. I tried to approach it from a place of honesty and truth. I’m still finding out who I am every single day.

“Ariel, she taught me a lot about myself, what I am capable of – [I approached] it from that mindset, allowing her to teach me.”

As for McCarthy, the part of Ursula always appealed to her – she has famously said she’d want to have “a drink” with Ursula.

“A filthy, dirty martini – without a doubt,” she says, when asked exactly what her drink order would be alongside her villainous alter ego.

“Every time I get to play a different character, it’s as close as I can really get to walking in somebody else’s shoes,” McCarthy says.

“[When] I play someone, even if it is – ‘oh, we’re so different!’ But then, even part of this movie is – are we even that different? It makes me a little more compassionate, and hopefully a bit more patient and open-minded. It’s like, I feel really lucky that what I get to do for a living is really, walking in someone else’s shoes and realising, that we all share things.

‘You really learn by watching her.’ Halle Bailey has Beyonce to thank for her big break in Hollywood. Picture: AFP

Beyonce serves as inspo for Halle Bailey. Picture: Getty Images

“You have to dissect who that [character] is, and what makes them 3D. I thought a lot about [Ursula’s] damage and her isolation, her mental health – being ostracised by her family. That years of revenge built up, she’s doing all parts of the conversation. And that never leads to good stuff, assuming what someone will say. And by the time we were ready to start shooting, I had such compassion for her. I really felt for her in a very different way.”

Bailey is one of the hottest rising stars in Hollywood – after The Little Mermaid, she will appear in the Oprah-produced remake of 1985’s The Color Purple. Bailey and her sister Chloe (of the duo “Chloe x Halle”) got their big break signing to Beyonce’s Parkwood Entertainment management company, after their video covering Beyonce’s song Pretty Hurts went viral in 2015.

Of the impact Beyonce has had on her as a mentor, Bailey reflects: “I think with Beyonce, you really learn by watching her, and the example of the human being she is”.

“Seeing her work ethic and how hard she works for herself and her family, and how kind and good-hearted she is. I think I just watch [Beyonce] by example. She’s one of those people that are very humble and doesn’t like to, I don’t know, say, ‘do this! Or do that!’ It’s very much – ‘I’m proud of you, you spread your wings and fly.’”

The Little Mermaid is in cinemas now.

Originally published as ‘You really learn by watching her’: Halle Bailey on Beyonce, taking chances, and her breakout role in The Little Mermaid