The Sweet Story Behind the Indian-American Ariel Illustration The Little Mermaid Star Halle Bailey Shared
When news broke that Halle Bailey had been cast as Ariel in Disney’s live-action The Little Mermaid, the actress shared an image that resonated with fans.
“Dream come true…” Bailey, 19, wrote while tweeting an illustration of an Indian-American Ariel by artist Dylan Bonner.
Bonner created the image in 2015 after his friend Brian Flynn commissioned him to create a Disney princess series for his girlfriend at the time, Manini Gupta, for Valentine’s Day.
Flynn shared the artwork in a blog post on Imgur that year, which featured himself and Gupta as Disney characters from various animated films such as Mulan, Tangled, The Little Mermaid, Beauty and the Beast and Aladdin.
dream come true... 🧜🏽♀️🌊 pic.twitter.com/sndjYUS6wO
— chloe x halle (@chloexhalle) July 3, 2019
“My girlfriend Manini and I LOVE Disney movies,” Flynn began. “I want our relationship to be as epic and timeless as the animations we grew up on, so I decided to have us painted into some famous Disney scenes and surprise her for Valentine’s Day.”
He continued, “I had my incredibly talented friend Dylan Bonner help me with the artwork.”
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“I contacted Dylan about this project three months ago,” Flynn wrote. “I sent him tons of photos of Manini and me and images of the Disney scenes I was hoping he could mimic. I’ve been bursting at the seams trying to keep this a secret!”
Flynn explained Bonner “created all of these images from scratch. The quickness and quality of his work really blew me away. He honestly made this all seem easy.”
Disney announced Bailey would take on the role of Ariel in its upcoming remake, with Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay and Melissa McCarthy all in talks to star.
Bailey first rose to fame after she and her sister, Chloe, caught the attention of Beyoncé after their rendition of “Pretty Hurts” in 2015.
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Since then, the duo has joined Beyoncé on tour as her opening act for the European leg of The Formation World Tour. The sisters were also cast as series regulars in Grown-ish and wrote the theme song for the show.
Production for The Little Mermaid is anticipated to begin in early 2020
