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, 时期. The end,” Marshall, 62, 告诉 娱乐周刊 of casting Bailey, 22, emphasizing that the team had “no agenda” 进行中. “We saw everybody and every ethnicity.”

Marshall said the casting team’s goal was to find someone who could be “incredibly strong, passionate, 美丽的, 聪明的, 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 在九月.

“I wasn’t anticipating that because, 在某种方式, I felt like we’ve moved so far past that kind of thing,” the director told 那个 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.”

不错过任何一个故事——注册 人们的免费每日通讯 及时了解人们所提供的最好的东西, 从多汁的名人新闻到引人入胜的人类兴趣故事.

在九月, 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, 我认为, just young-minded and a bit more not sure of myself so much,” 她说. “The whole experience of filming, in more ways than one, mirrored Ariel’s journey of finding herself and her voice.”

活动现场, 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,” 她补充说. “I’d definitely say it mirrored what Ariel goes through in the film.”

The actress added that the film has “changed my perspective on everything” 和 “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, 有色人种的女人, I’m just like, 哇, 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.