The second film adaptation of The Color Purple is slated to hit theaters on Dec. 25. It will star Fantasia, Taraji P. Henson, Ciara, H.E.R. and Halle Bailey, among others.
In an interview published today (Dec. 7), the “Angel” singer sat down with Rachel Zegler for Variety’s “Actors on Actors.” Notably, the pair served as Disney princesses for the live-action renditions of The Little Mermaid and Snow White, respectively. Both also faced racism and online hate for being a different ethnicity than their original animated counterparts.
During their conversation, Bailey opened up about how much growth and opportunity playing Ariel provided her while comparing it to her forthcoming role as young Nettie Harris in The Color Purple.
“Ariel taught me a lot about myself. So coming out of that energy into [The] Color Purple was so beautiful for me because I felt more comfortable in my skin. Then to get to be on an all-Black set, where you feel like you’re at a family reunion every day, was the best thing ever,” Bailey shared. “And it was a much smaller role, so it was so much easier to be really chilling on set all the time, watching my heroes, like Fantasia and Taraji P. Henson. Just looking and being like, ‘How the hell am I here?’”
Check out the full clip below.
Notably, Bailey is also set to appear in the accompanying soundtrack for The Color Purple. It will hit streaming platforms next Friday (Dec. 15) with Alicia Keys’ “Lifeline” as the lead single. Other features include Megan Thee Stallion, Coco Jones and Jorja Smith.
May’s The Little Mermaid proved to be a major hit for the Grammy nominee. It raked in a whopping $118 million at the box office in its opening weekend. Prior to that, she starred in “Grown-ish” alongside her sister, Chlöe.
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