Halle Bailey is set to join Universal Pictures’ untitled Pharrell Williams and Michel Gondry project.
Bailey will co-star opposite Kelvin Harrison Jr. and join newly minted Oscar winner Da’Vine Joy Randolph in this coming-of-age musical set in Virginia Beach in the summer of 1977, inspired by Atlantis Apartments, Williams’ childhood neighborhood.
Michel Gondry (“Eternal Sunshine of the Spotless Mind,” “The Science of Sleep”) is set to direct the project based on a script by Martin Hynes (“Toy Story 4,” “The Magician’s Elephant”) and Steven Levenson (“Tick, Tick…Boom!,” “Fosse/Verdon”).
Williams and Mimi Valdés will produce through i am OTHER and Gil Netter will produce through Gil Netter Productions.
Universal’s senior vice president of production development, Ryan Jones, and director of production development, Christine Sun, will oversee the project for the studio.
In 2023, Bailey led Disney’s live-action adaptation of “The Little Mermaid” alongside Melissa McCarthy. Variety‘s Peter Debruge praised her performance, writing in his review, “Halle Bailey is all the reason that any audience should need to justify Disney revisiting this classic. Director Rob Marshall found his Ariel, and together, they’ve made a keeper … A star is born.”
and starred in Blitz Bazawule’s “The Color Purple” with Fantasia Barrino, Danielle Brooks and Taraji P. Henson. On TV, she starred in “Black-ish” spinoff “Grown-ish” for four seasons.
As a singer, Bailey is half of the duo Chloe x Halle with sister Chloe, and released her debut single as a solo artist, “Angel,” last year. The track earned her a Grammy nomination for best R&B song.
