LOS ANGELES, CALIFORNIA: Halle Bailey stands out with her stunning pale red locs in the much-awaited live-action adaptation of Disney's 'The Little Mermaid'. But it comes at a hefty cost and required a considerable amount of time to create the look.
The head of the movie's hair department, Camille Friend, revealed in a Variety interview the complex procedures used to give Halle's character, Ariel, her fiery red hair. The procedure, which avoided using a wig in favor of preserving Halle's natural hair, cost over $150,000 and included several hours of precise work.
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'Halle’s locs are down to her waist'
Friend told the media outlet, "Halle’s locs are down to her waist, over 24 inches. And putting her in a wig was going to look crazy." Instead, she went on an experiment, researching Halle's features, skin tone, and eye color, as well as the colors of her costumes, to find the appropriate shade of red for her locs. Friend even met Halle's family to "understand who she was and why the natural hair element was important to keep" and let it "shine through." Director Rob Marshall and executives from Disney were reportedly on board as well, giving Friend the freedom to experiment.
Friend wrapped Halle's locks with 30-inch strands of hair featuring keratin tips to fuse smoothly with her own hair, which took between 12 and 14 hours with Halle's patience and participation. The additional hair was specifically dyed, mixing three tones of red to get the desired multi-hued effect.
'I’m not guesstimating, but we probably spent at least $150,000'
"I’m not guesstimating, but we probably spent at least $150,000 because we had to redo it and take it out. It was a process," Friend admitted to the media outlet. While most of Halle's underwater scenes were shot in front of a blue screen on a dry set, a few scenes were filmed in a water tank, the outlet noted. Friend intentionally placed loose strands of less dense hair to provide the illusion of movement underwater to address the issue of the locs not floating. Friend even changed her hairstyle even more by including straighter hair.
Friend noted that Halle was a "trooper" and that she eventually got comfortable with the process to do it in a shorter period of time. Ariel's iconic hair flip had to be digitally supplemented for the new version of the film, which was shot when she was not present at the set, Friend revealed to the publication. 'The Little Mermaid' has been released widely in theaters.
