Hallelujah to Ariel

Playing updated character helped singer and actress Bailey find herself | REMAKE OF DISNEY MERMAID CLASSIC ANIMATION MOVIE

-  KERRI-ANN ROPER and RACHAEL DAVIS

WHEN her phone rang showing an unknown number, singer and actress Halle Bailey was not planning on taking the call... but on reflection, she is very glad she did.

Because on the other end was Oscar-nominated director and producer Rob Marshall, whose list of films includes Chicago, Mary Poppins Returns, Pirates Of The Caribbean: On Stranger Tides and, of late, Disney's live-action reimagining of The Little Mermaid. Bailey, known to fans for being part of the musical duo Chloe x Halle with her sister Chloe, reflects on the lifechanging phone call which would seal her fate in playing headstrong mermaid Ariel in the re-telling of the animated musical classic first released in 1989.

"I think we had celebrated my sister's birthday the day before. And then I got this call from Rob, the 23-year-old American star recalls.

"I don't answer unknown numbers, so I just saw it. And then my baby brother, like, comes running to me, 'Answer your phone, answer your phone'.

"And I was like, OK. So I answered it, and then Rob (Marshall) was like, 'Hello. I'm looking for Ariel".

As part of Grammy-nominated Chloe x Halle, Bailey is no stranger to the entertainment stage, having made a cameo on Beyonce's Lemonade album.