Little Mermaid Director Had 'No Agenda' When Casting Halle Bailey: 'We Saw Everybody and Every Ethnicity'

Disney Halle Bailey as Ariel in The Little Mermaid (2023)

The Little Mermaid director Rob Marshall says the production was searching for someone who could exude "a great deal of fire and joy" when they cast Halle Bailey as Ariel.

"We just were looking for the best actor for the role, period. The end," Marshall, 62, told Entertainment Weekly of casting Bailey, 22, emphasizing that the team had "no agenda" in the process. "We saw everybody and every ethnicity."

Marshall said the casting team's goal was to find someone who could be "incredibly strong, passionate, beautiful, smart, clever," and exude "a great deal of fire and joy" in playing the iconic Disney princess.

"That voice is something that is so signature and so ethereal and so beautiful that it captures the heart of Eric, and he looks for her for the entire film," the director added of the need to cast a high-quality singer for the lead role.

Elsewhere in the interview, Marshall noted that he "wasn't anticipating" the major positive reaction the upcoming film has received after audiences saw a Black actor portray Ariel when Disney debuted a teaser trailer in September.

"I wasn't anticipating that because, in a way, I felt like we've moved so far past that kind of thing," the director told EW of the noteworthy onscreen representation. "But then you realize, in a way we haven't. It was very moving to me to see how important this kind of casting is for the world."

RELATED: Jodi Benson, Voice of Ariel in Little Mermaid, Praises Halle Bailey's 'Amazing' Performance

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In September, Bailey told PEOPLE at the D23 Expo about how playing Ariel changed her. "I'd definitely say coming into this film I was a lot more, I think, just young-minded and a bit more not sure of myself so much," she said. "The whole experience of filming, in more ways than one, mirrored Ariel's journey of finding herself and her voice."

At the event, Bailey recalled "just sobbing because I truly felt like I had come out of this cocoon with Ariel" at the end of filming the upcoming movie.

"This story has done so much for me and the filming process has really kind of changed my life," she added. "I'd definitely say it mirrored what Ariel goes through in the film."

Corey Nickols/Getty Images for IMDb

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The actress added that the film has "changed my perspective on everything" and "impacted my life in so many ways." And she hopes the representation she now brings to the iconic story will mean just as much to young audiences.

"The fact that now it's getting to be played by me, a person who looks like me, woman of color, I'm just like, wow, I'm so grateful what it will do for all the other little Black and brown boys and girls who will see themselves in me," said Bailey. "Because I know if I had seen myself when I was younger, I think my whole perspective would've changed."

The Little Mermaid is in theaters May 26.