It’s sweet how close sisters Halle and Chloe Bailey are to each other. They were a singing duo and they were both on grownish. They’re a little less than two years apart and until recently I actually thought they were fraternal twins. Anyway, they’re pursing more separate careers now and Halle is Ariel in the live-action Little Mermaid. At the world premiere of the movie, Halle spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about her preparations for the role and noted that the hardest part of the process was being away from her sister, Chloe. Aw!

Hollywood Boulevard was taken under the sea on Monday for the long-awaited world premiere of The Little Mermaid.

“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,” Halle Bailey, who takes on the iconic role of Ariel in Disney’s live-action adaptation, told reporters on the red carpet.

To become a mermaid, Bailey went through three months of training and rehearsals ahead of shooting, though she admitted that the hardest part of that process “was just mentally and physically being away from my sister [Chloe Bailey], who’s my best friend. But other than that it was just a lot of strength training.”

Melissa McCarthy, who transforms into sea witch Ursula, also spoke to The Hollywood Reporter about that intensive rehearsal process, which involved five weeks of practicing with her tentacles.

Director Rob Marshall “had eight dancers around me, and each dancer had an 8-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,” McCarthy explained.

“I have to say, getting to do that, especially when you’re filming in such a virtual world that you don’t always see, to have the tactical and practical for all of those weeks of rehearsal — we all talked about it, what a difference it made,” she continued. “We were like, ‘We really do know what the world looks and feels like.’”

Javier Bardem, who plays King Triton in the adaptation, teased that his and Bailey’s mermaid training was a bit different, as she was much more of a natural. “I’m a big guy, she’s a mermaid,” he joked. “When you see her moving on the set like she won’t need anything, any of that. Me, try to move this thing, it takes a lot of work and a lot of people.” He added that the real-life mermaid tail was only worn on occasion when learning the depth and distance between each other, “but most of the time no, I was wearing just some pants.”

[From The Hollywood Reporter]

Halle and Chloe are clearly close and provide each other a lot of support. This must have been the most significant amount of time they’ve spend apart and it must have been difficult after being together for so long. Though I knew Halle was on set for the role, I guess I didn’t even think about the physical process of preparing to play a mermaid. It didn’t even occur to me, to be honest, but I guess it’s not unlike when actors train to play a dancer or an athlete or some other physical role. So it was interesting to read about the the physical preparation process for Halle, Melissa McCarthy, and Javier Bardem to learn how to move like mythical sea creatures. I do remember seeing the set pics of Halle with the mermaid tail on the beach and it’s funny to imagine Javier Bardem doing those scenes in just pants.

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