Those who work on Disney's live-action remakes face a lot of pressure, as they must recreate some of the studio's beloved classics. The Little Mermaid especially had a lot of ground to cover, as it had the momentous task of crafting some of the most magical and beloved scenes from the original. One of these scenes was the iconic hair flip, which occurs when Ariel emerges from the water and dramatically tosses her red locks while silhouetted by the sun. It's a gorgeous image and one that the new film beautifully brought to life. However, pulling that off was difficult logistically, with Halle Bailey even claiming that she almost "broke" her neck.
In a recent interview with The Hollywood Reporter, the Ariel actress revealed that due to the weight of the water and the length of her hair, recreating the hair flip wasn’t all that easy. There was simply too much pressure on the star's neck for her to flip her gorgeous locks by herself, and she needed help from the crew to accomplish the feat. She revealed:
[A stuntman] would hold my hair underwater and then he would throw it for me when I came up, so that it didn’t feel like such a weight on my shoulders. So we did it multiple times to get it just right. It looks so cool and perfect in the animated film, so we were trying to re-create that in real life.
It did come out beautifully in the end and is one of the best parts of The Little Mermaid. As a fan, I’m so glad the team made it happen since the original shot is so gorgeous, and a recreation of the moment almost seemed essential. However, while the stunt person certainly helped with the hair weight, it still put a strain on Halle Bailey’s neck. In a recent viral TikTok, the Grown–ish alum reacted to the shot in question, saying:
I almost broke my neck! My hair was so heavy!
So even with the help from the crew, the water was still heavy and the act of whipping her hair back was still very dangerous. Thankfully, they got the shot without anyone getting hurt. Due to the nature of the film, Halle Bailey had to be incredibly physical with her performance, and the flip was definitely not the most strenuous scene. While they didn’t actually film a ton underwater, she still had crazy stunt training and participated in a lot of wire work. Some days, she was actually in the water, and she previously said that those were very physical as well. I guess Bailey is a quadruple threat: singer, actor, dancer and stuntwoman.
The hair flip was also likely a risky scene from a financial standpoint. The amount of money spent on Halle Bailey’s wig hit six figures so, had the piece been damaged, it would’ve been expensive for the production. Also, the style of her hair was also particularly weighty and did not float underwater. (It was also down to her waist.) The actress certainly made it all work, though, as everything looked incredible on screen. And in the end, she truly captured the essence of Ariel.
You can see the magical hair flip moment in The Little Mermaid, which is currently in theaters nationwide. For more information on other much-anticipated films heading to cinemas in the near future, make sure to consult our schedule of 2023 new movie releases.