Halle Bailey shows off a vibrant head of light red locomotives in her new live-action Disney remake of The Little Mermaid.
But the 23-year-old singer-turned-actress normally sports a more natural dark shade for her mid-length hair, forcing the production to take extreme steps to achieve the red look without dyeing or cutting her natural hair.
In an interview with Variety as of Friday, Camille Friend, head of the film’s hair department, revealed the excruciating process she went through to give Halle’s character Ariel her classic fiery hair, while admitting the entire process cost somewhere in the ballpark of $150,000.
To make matters worse, it took her hours to get the look right, and there were disappointing false starts along the way.
Friend made it clear that it was important for the film – which has been positively reviewed – to keep Halle’s natural hair rather than replace it with a wig.
A pretty penny: Halle Bailey, 23, had to go through an elaborate process that lasted up to 14 hours and cost about $150,000 to get her red hair into the live-action The Little Mermaid, according to Variety; seen on May 22 in Sydney, Australia
Ingenious: Camille Friend, head of the hair department, revealed that she came up with the idea of wrapping strands of red hair around Halle’s locks so they wouldn’t have to be cut or die; still from The Little Mermaid
The hair stylist shared that meeting the Chloe x Halle singer convinced her she needed to let Halle’s hair shine.
‘I went to see Halle’s family. Her mother is spiritual and they are a nice family,” she recalled. “I started to understand who she was and why it was important to keep the natural hair element.”
Director Rob Marshall and Disney executives were also reportedly on board, giving Friend the freedom to experiment.
She said she studied Halle’s “face shape, skin tone, and eye color,” along with the colors of her costumes, to determine the ideal shade of red for her locs.
A wig would have been the simplest option and certainly would have cost less than the finished product, but Friend was adamant about not covering up the star’s natural hair.
Halle’s locs are up to her waist, over 24 inches. And putting a wig on her would look crazy,” Friend said.
With Halle’s patience and cooperation, the hairdresser began a process of experimentation that lasted 12 to 14 hours.
She noted that the actress was a “trooper” and eventually felt comfortable enough with the process to do it in a shorter amount of time.
Time consuming: The hair strands were 30 inches long and were custom dyed three shades of red. Friend said Halle was a trooper during the first 12 to 14 hours after applying the hair, including false starts; still from The Little Mermaid
Adjustments: Friend straightened Halle’s hair a bit for scenes on land. She also added loose strands of hair to make it ‘dance’ underwater, since ‘locs don’t float’; still from The Little Mermaid
“If we take her and wrap it around her locks, we don’t have to cut or color them,” Friend explained. ‘We can change her color without changing her internal hair structure. Her structure and her hair are hers.”
To wrap her locks with another layer of red hair, she needed 30-inch locks with keratin tips that would help it bond to Halle’s own hair.
The extra hair also had to be custom dyed to achieve the multicolored red look, and Friend explained that it was “three shades of red” mixed together.
But the large amount of natural hair required, along with the dyeing and labor, meant it was incredibly expensive to produce on a big budget.
“I’m not guessing, but we probably spent at least $150,000 because we had to redo it and take it out,” Friend admitted. “You couldn’t use it and we’d have to start over. It was a process.’
She did not clarify whether the hair had to be replaced periodically during production, or whether it usually remained in place after the first successful bonding.
However, it still required more care and troubleshooting on set. While most of Halle’s underwater scenes were actually shot in front of a blue screen on a completely dry set, she filmed a few scenes in a water tank, which initially made her hair look un-cinematic.
Friend noted that “locomotives don’t float,” so Ariel wouldn’t have had the vibrant, voluminous hair she was known for in the original animated film.
To make it “dance” underwater, she added loose strands of less dense hair that helped it float around.
Extra volume: The movie cheated when it came to Ariel’s iconic hair flip. The production ended up using CGI to augment movement; seen 15 May in London
Friend even changed the style slightly when Ariel was ashore by bringing in straighter hair.
While Disney’s recent remakes are often described as live-action, they use a huge amount of computer-generated graphics, and this production was no different.
Friend revealed that Ariel’s iconic hairflip for the new version of the movie – which was shot when she was off set – had to be digitally enlarged.
The Little Mermaid is currently running in wide releases in theaters.