Halle Bailey to star in Pharrell Williams’ movie musical

The singer-actress will join Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph and “Genius: MLK/X” star Kelvin Harrison Jr. in Williams’ coming-of-age movie musical.

Halle Bailey is the newest star to join Pharrell Williams’ upcoming musical film. 

The singer-actress, 24, will join Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph and “Genius: MLK/X” star Kelvin Harrison Jr. in Williams’ coming-of-age movie musical, according to Variety. 

The film will be set in Virginia Beach during the summer of 1977 and is inspired by Williams’ childhood growing up in the Atlantis Apartments community, according to reports. Williams and Mimi Valdés will produce the film through his I Am Other production company, along with Gil Netter via Gil Netter Productions.

Universal Pictures will release the film, which is being written by Martin Hynes and Steven Levenson and is so far untitled. 

Bailey’s appearance in the film will be her third performance in a movie musical after she starred in 2023’s “The Little Mermaid” and “The Color Purple.” The “Angel” singer previously told Variety that starring as Ariel in the Disney live-action movie musical allowed her to learn “so much about myself.” 

“My mindset is to work, work, work, so that I can see the payoff and move towards my goals. That’s what I’m used to,” Bailey said in August 2022. She noted that in working so hard, she would be “emotionally going to places I’ve never gone, and everybody there on set can congratulate you and say, ‘Yeah, you killed it today, kid,’ — but then you have all this time to wait.”

But she said she was grateful for the experience “because it makes me slow down and cherish the moment that I’m living in now.” 

The singer-actress, who welcomed her first child, son Halo, in 2023, shared similar sentiments about filming her second movie musical, director Blitz Bazawule’s “The Color Purple.” 

“I remember Blitz had called and mentioned — I was in the middle of filming ‘Mermaid’ when I actually submitted my self-tape for it — and I remember the first thing I read was that I would have to submit a gospel song,” Bailey said during a December 2023 press conference. “And, I remember being so excited, like ‘[sighs] Thank God, Yay!’ And I think I sang, ‘It Is Well.’ 

“But, I took that as a sign, like ‘Wow, this is a project where I’ll not only be lifted by my own and protected, I feel like God is helping me and guiding me to this project to teach me things about what I should know about myself in the future and how to continue on this journey because I’m still very new and looking to them for guidance.” 

Bailey is represented by CAA. A premiere date for Williams’ movie musical has not yet been released.

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