- All the pictures are
out there of little me in my Snow White gown-
- Yeah, I saw it. That's why it's gonna make me cry. - No, stop, because you'll make me cry. - No, don't start please.
- No, no. - I saw on Twitter you had posted it was the sweetest picture of you in the Snow White costume. - Yeah.
(Rachel laughs) - And it's like, oh my
God, I'm so annoying. I'm sorry.
- No, I'm the same way. - It's fine. (Rachel laughs)
(Halle laughs) Sorry, Variety. - No, yeah, sorry, sorry, okay. (upbeat music) (upbeat music) We met at the Met. - Yeah, 2021.
- [Halle] Very informal. - It was a tiny one. Was that your first Met
or you had been before? - That was actually my first Met, yeah- - That was your first one, me too. That was my first red carpet ever. - Really?
- [Rachel] Yeah. Well, you killed it. You looked so beautiful.
- [Rachel] Thank you. I remember being so
nervous, but I was happy 'cause me and Chloe went together. - Which is nice 'cause
there's no plus ones at the Met, which I don't
think a lot of people know that you can't just bring somebody. - That's what I know. It gives me severe
anxiety 'cause I'm like, how am I supposed to talk to anyone? - Exactly.
- Cause I have to go up to people and say stuff. I'm like, wow. - And then I saw you, I
think we were all leaving when I saw you and your sister.
- Yes. - And we took a photo 'cause they had just
announced me as Snow White. - [Halle] Yes! - It was so sweet because your
sister was taking the picture and then told me that I
looked like the cartoon and it was really sweet. And I carry it with me.
(Halle laughs) She's the best, but both of you are just quintessential beautiful souls. And it's been that way
ever since I've known you. And every time I see you, it's like, oh thank goodness a familiar face 'cause we saw each other at D23, too.
- Yes. - And you and I both were
like, somebody I know. - That's the exact feeling,
you described it perfectly. Oh, thank goodness she's here. I have a friend, - Exactly, exactly.
this is gonna be good. So yeah, it was lovely meeting. Yeah, I remember seeing you
and I was like, oh my gosh. I think I saw you from
afar in the room that day and I was like, Chloe, we have
to go up to her, I love her. She's Snow White, we have to say hi. And then I was so happy
we ran into each other when we walked out, it was the best. - 'Cause there's no normal
way to go up to people at the Met Gala.
- Yeah, right, it's so... - Yeah, it's weird, but I'm
glad and it's been fun to... 'Cause you and I don't get to be in the same room very often.
- Ever. - [Rachel] Ever, we
live on opposite coasts- - So this is the first day
we've actually gotten to talk- - About it at all.
- Yeah. - What a way to do it, too.
- I know. - I'm glad you've all joined us. (Halle laughs)
(Rachel laughs) For me, this is a crazy thing 'cause I did something very
similar on Hunger Games where Little Mermaid wrapped
and then you went right on to The Color Purple set. - Yes. - How do you do that? 'Cause I had a really
tough time when I did it to just say goodbye to one
thing and then suddenly have to immerse yourself in a
completely different world. 'Cause you go from this
world of intense imagination and fantasy and then all of a
sudden, it's a very real shift into a very real film that is a lot- - Yeah, crazy. - So how did you deal and did
it feel as smooth as, somebody who's seen both films,
as you made it look? (Halle laughs)
- Well, thanks. I guess, really, this is a
new world for me honestly because I've lived so
much in the musician land, the singer land all my life. That's where I'm comfortable,
that's my comfort zone. This whole acting stuff is like, whoa, this is a whole new
world, it's exciting, it's cool. Mermaid was really my first big film. ♪ I don't know how but I know
something's starting right now ♪ It was really interesting
'cause going into something that means so much to so many
people was very overwhelming, but overwhelmingly beautiful. And so when I had wrapped it, I had just felt like such freedom and I was so proud of myself
for doing something like that that I'd never known
before and stumbled a bit along the way, but in the end, I felt like I came out way stronger. So I always talk about how I
feel like Ariel taught me a lot about myself and gave me
Halle's strength and showed me, you actually have strength, girl, hello. So coming out of that energy
into Color Purple was something that was so beautiful for me
because I felt number one, way more comfortable in my
skin and then number two, to get to be on a set of an all-black set where you just feel like you're at a family reunion every day - That's beautiful.
was the best thing ever. So it honestly was the greatest pick me up and it was a much smaller
role, so it was so much easier just to be really chilling
on set all the time and just watching my heroes like Fantasia and Taraji P. Henson and
getting to hear them sing and just looking and being
like, how the hell am I here? Just so grateful. - Oh, I know how you're there. (Halle laughs)
- Whatever. - No, it's really remarkable that your first two film projects are gigantic films like that. - Thanks, Rachel. - Does that feel like all of
us have imposter syndrome, do you feel that? - Oh yeah, all the time. I'm like, I don't know
how this is happening, I'm gonna just keep praying
to God, I'm going along. I'm like, I'm grateful,
but yeah, same for you. I mean, I know you must
feel the same because... Well, first of all, a
fellow Disney princess girl, Ms. Snow White, so
amazing and I'm so excited to see that in April.
- [Rachel] Thank you. I'm counting down the days.
- Thank you. - And I saw Hunger Games, whew, (Rachel laughs)
which was so amazing. - Thank you. - Oh my God, I was so excited to see it because when I was younger,
I was a Twilight girl and Hunger Games girl. - Oh wow, right up your alley. - Yeah, so I felt so
ready to see this film and then when I heard it was
you, I'm like, oh my God, she's gonna freaking
murder it and you did. Yesterday, I was watching the film and I was in tears every time
you opened your mouth to sing, literally, just pure
anointment in your voice. - Thank you.
- It's so beautiful. ♪ If we met up at midnight
in the hanging tree ♪ - But I was wondering, how was that because that's such a massive film. Again, it's similar to
where, has such history where people care so much about
the film and the franchise and they get so sensitive over
every little thing about it. How are you able to navigate
going into a film like that and off of I think Snow White, 'cause you filmed Snow White first, right? - Yeah, and it was very
similar to what you had with Mermaid where it was
like we wrapped on a Tuesday and then I moved to
Poland on the Wednesday and started shooting.
- Oh my gosh. - So it was a hard goodbye that I feel like I mourned
the wrap of Snow White while I was in the middle
of getting my bearings on The Hunger Games set. But you know, there's a
massive pressure that you place on yourself when you're
stepping into shoes like that, but then also the fan base
is so huge, so dedicated. I'm one of them, so I
know how I would feel if I were watching a reboot of a franchise I adore.
- Yeah. - You just wanna do right
by them, but Suzanne Collins who wrote them, she's doing right by them because she created the universe. She can't really do any
wrong because it's her world that she's created. And I read the book
when it came out in 2020 and I was in love with
the character of Lucy Gray and the fact that Francis
came to me and was like, "I really want you to do this," it's the biggest honor
of my career thus far. And I can say that confidently
that I can't believe that I get to be a part of that franchise and doing junket the past 16 days has just been sitting
there watching the reporter but seeing the poster next to them and seeing my face in The
Hunger Games logo beneath and just constantly being
like, this is not real. There's no way. And thank you, with vocals,
it's a huge honor coming from this side of the room.
- Oh gosh, no. - 'Cause you cannot do any wrong vocally. You open your mouth and
the heavens just go, yes. So it means a lot to me. I'm in disbelief that you've
got two musicals this year. - Yeah, you too, I mean, Snow White- - Yeah, oh yeah, we did that. (Rachel laughs) - We did that, hello, both of us. The thing that's crazy
about it is I, honestly, I feel most comfortable
when I'm able to sing. I'm sure you feel similar where it's like, this is where I can open
up and then after that, I'll feel better. So, oh my gosh, the songs in Hunger Games. You sang, what, eight songs?
- Oh, thank you. Yeah. - That was so beautiful, but to me, it was like it was something
so striking about... They felt like gospel hymns that they were making you sing in a way. - Yeah. - Working with the music
team and stuff for that, how was that? - It was amazing. I was really nervous when I signed on 'cause I really wanted the
fans to be able to subscribe to the fact that music fit
into the plot somewhere. Coming from the world of
musical theater, there's a lot of difficulty in trying to
sell that to an audience, as I'm sure you can understand, where there's a lot of people
that don't wanna sit down and watch 2 1/2 hours of singing sometimes and you wanna make sure that
it feels as organic as possible for songs to fit into a plot
line like The Hunger Games. It doesn't sound right
when you say it out loud and then Francis Lawrence our
director and Suzanne Collins who obviously wrote the books,
they had a very clear vision for what they wanted it all to sound like and then we worked with the
country music producer Dave Cobb who is so cool. He sat and he wrote and really
collaborated with Suzanne and tried to figure out
that sound that she wanted, which was this Appalachian,
'30s and '40s country folk. I really do agree there
is some gospel in there. There's a poem that gets
sung aloud called Lucy Gray that is very much sounds like a hymn. - Yes. - And I spent my weekends in the studio, so everybody was going out,
enjoying Poland and Berlin and doing all those things and
I was just like in the studio making sure that this
music was what we wanted. And then I sang live
on set, which was crazy and everybody keeps
asking me why I did that. And I mean, you get it. There's nothing like it. You can't really capture that sound and that feeling any other way. And then that makes it tricky when you step onto sets like
Little Mermaid or Snow White where it's all sound stage and so live vocal doesn't always
really exist in that world. So you spend 13 hours a day in a pool. (Halle laughs) I wanna know what that was
like for myriad reasons because that's really,
really intense on your body, but then you're in the
middle of a musical shoot where you need to be
keeping up your voice. - Yes. - And you know better
than anyone probably that that is a body thing, too. A lot of people think
that it's just this muscle but it's all of these muscles
working together to make that. So did that have an effect
on you, like a strain on you or did you feel like you were on it? - I think there was a lot
of things that combined to I think just my body
feeling tired all the time because it was a lot based
off of all the stunt work and being in the water
actually, I felt the lightest because you're really buoyant and stuff and it just felt like
that felt a little easier. It was just like you said like us singers, we're trained to take
care of our vocal chords. So sometimes the chlorine and then you're sinusy the next day and then you have to sing.
- Yeah. - I love what you mentioned
about singing live on set because that was something
that I really wanted to do in Mermaid 'cause I feel like
I'm able to evoke feeling and emotion more in a live take in comparison to a recorded version. I just feel like it comes
out more in the live take, so I agree with you. So that was something that
I was having to navigate, whereas on days where I would
be straight out of the water, I'd be like, okay, I'm
not going to do this live, I'm not gonna even attempt
to blow out my vocals and then the days where I
felt confident in my muscles, I'm like, you know what? I really just wanna get this
delivery of me singing live 'cause I feel like it'll turn out better. So there was one instance in
Mermaid where I guess the scene where I'm waiting for the
prince, he's coming up the stairs or something or singing
"For the First Time". ♪ Now for the first time ♪ ♪ He's coming through those doors ♪ So at the ending, that whole
section I was able to sing live which I was really grateful
for because it's hard when you're trying to mouth
that emotion to a recording. - 100%, quite literally
without the pun intended, but you blew everybody out of the water. - Thank you, Rachel.
It's an amazing, amazing feat and I'm so impressed. And I truly think that
any naysayer out there, 'cause there are always people who have something to say,
- Yeah, always. you prove them wrong with grace.
- [Halle] Thank you. (Halle laughs) - I was so inspired by the
way you handled anybody who had anything bad to say about it. - Thank you. - Really, I give you so much credit and you and I have always
been I think kind defenders of each others online. - Yes.
(Halle laughs) - I think I would be
willing to fight a little (Halle laughs)
'cause that's who I am as a person, but yeah, there's always
such chatter around it. And did you ever let it affect you at all? You definitely didn't publicly- - Of course, yeah, I
mean, we're sensitive, we are human beings. - We're actors, too.
(Rachel laughs) - We're actors, hello. I get my feelings hurt if my cat doesn't wanna sit next to me. (Rachel laughs)
- I'm the same way. - Of course, and I think that's
what people don't realize a lot of the times when you're put in fortunate situations like us where you're granted great opportunities and able to be seen on massive screens. It's amazing, but I think there
is sort of a dissociation. People think that they
start taking you away from being a real human being,
- Yeah. that have feelings and react to things. So yeah, that was definitely something that I had to navigate, but it turned out to be the
most beautiful lesson to me just to block any naysayers
or negativity out, and for me, I found that it helped me. I used it to my advantage when it came to doing the long press days or it came to even taking
into my own personal music that I was writing. I was using it as fuel to
help me with my artistry. And I think that's the only
way I could get over it and as well as just surrounding myself with people that love me. My sister will go to war about me. - I know she will. - And then also I'm an
Aries, so I'm a fire sign. So a lot of the times,
'cause people are like, "Oh, she's so sweet, she's
so nice," but a lot of times when I see stuff online, I get mad and I wanna say something,
I wanna respond, but I just be like, no,
you know what, it's okay. And same to you, the way
you are just so graceful and respond and don't. It's just the most beautiful thing to see
- Thank you. 'cause it's hard at being
women under the spotlight. People are so critical
and just say anything that they would never say to your face.
- No. - So yeah, how has that been for you being able to navigate it? - You know, choosing thankfulness and gratefulness is choosing peace. And as much as you'd like
to remind people verbally that being in the spotlight
doesn't absolve you of your humanity, that you're allowed to have human moments,
- Yes. it doesn't necessarily
do what you want it to do and it fuels them more. - Yes, exactly. - And so just as you said, it's
like choosing to be present and know that they're probably
just having a really hard day and I am putting out a movie. - Amen, that's right. - And I feel so thankful for those moments because it's started to make
me feel like solid Teflon, - Yes.
that nothing can hurt anymore because they've said the
worst that can be said and you just say thank
you so much for this, I have a lot of love in my
life and I'm very thankful. - [Halle] Amen. - And we get to do our work and have that speak for itself instead, which is exactly what you've done. - And you too. I love the saying, my
godmom says it a lot, "You throw stones and I'll
build a bridge out of them." Isn't that nice?
- That is nice. - [Halle] I love that.
No, it's true though 'cause we're making things that make people connect with one another. And there are people
out there who say things that make people want
to not come together, that make people want to fight and it's just not worth
the time and energy. - Exactly, yeah. So we just stay graceful
and ignore the hate, hello. (Rachel laughs)
(Halle laughs) - Exactly, exactly that. I did wanna, because you were talking about how you let it fuel your music... - Yes. - You were just nominated
for a Grammy for "Angel". ♪ They know you're an
angel, angel, angel ♪ - How does that feel because
obviously you've been in this, you've had an amazing music
career with your sister for so long and now not
only are you writing songs for yourself, solo music, getting
Grammy nominations for it, that's crazy, and then
you wrote a song for... You wrote two songs or you wrote, right? - A song for Color
Purple, yeah, yeah, mm-hm. - What does that mean to you
to get to merge both careers that you've so gracefully taken on, to get to do the songwriting, the singing for the acting as well? Did that make you nervous,
did they come to you about asking you do you wanna do this or did you feel like I
wanna pitch this and do it? What was the process like? - Wow, well, thanks for that question. - Of course, I'm so happy for you. (Halle laughs)
(Rachel laughs) - Thank you, yeah, I guess... Oh, I don't wanna sound
like a broken record, but I literally feel most comfortable when I'm in my music space. That's where I'm happiest, that's where I feel like
I have the most freedom. So when it comes to combining
this new world of acting that I'm not as used to,
it's really cool to be able to incorporate that as
well as my songwriting which has been a blessing. So for The Color Purple, I was so excited that Blitz Bazawule actually
had asked me to write a song for the film from young
Nettie's perspective. And the movie is filled with
the amazing songs already, so when I first heard that, I'm like,
(Halle gasps) intimidated 'cause you're like, how in the hell am I gonna write something that lives up to all these other songs? But I was really grateful for it 'cause I felt like I could
pull from my experience with my own sister, Chloe, 'cause the story of Celie and
Nettie is just all about hope and joy and young Nettie
becomes her thread of just hope throughout the whole movie. I was just grateful to be
able to have that opportunity. It came together nicely and
as far as the other stuff with "Angel", yeah, I was really excited to put out a song, but I was
so nervous to do it by myself - Of course.
'cause I'm a baby sister. So with Chloe, she's always
been there to hold my hand and be like, "You got this, come on." She's always been the one to push me out and get in the water. So when it came to "Angel",
I just really prayed to God and I just pulled from my
experience of working on Mermaid and hearing all these
things and all this chatter and just channeling it
into something greater. And I remember what really
struck me was seeing all of the videos of the beautiful
black and brown children who were reacting. - Sobbed my eyes out
looking like those, truly. - And I was just in tears,
I was sobbing over the fact that they felt like they
could see themselves in me. So I guess just using all of that to, yeah, sorry, if I was rambling. - No, no, I mean, to
piggyback off of that, it was such a moment on social media when The Little Mermaid trailer came out and all of these young
children, young black children in particular, those videos
getting posted of them reacting and being so happy that she's black. - Yeah.
How was that for you? 'Cause sometimes that
could be very overwhelming and be like, oh no, no,
no, I can't look at that. Or was it something that... I mean obviously you welcome it in 'cause it's a beautiful moment, but what was that like for you? - It truly was astonishing. I just was sobbing anytime
I saw a video of them react and say, "She looks like me."
- Yeah. - I didn't know what to
do with myself at first. I would just be in tears
and just so grateful to see them be happy about it. And it was also like, I don't know, I guess these babies were
like armor for me in a way to put on whenever I felt
I was getting consumed with other chatter, what I had heard about my casting initially.
- Of course. So these babies videos were like, oh my gosh, this is the only
validation I need from anyone. - Exactly.
- And then same for you. I mean, being an amazing
Latina woman as Snow White, first of all, wow, and you
are opening so many doors for your whole community as well. What has that felt like
and has that been different or difficult to step
into that world for you? Is it pressure, what do you feel? - I mean, definitely pressure. The cartoon's so beloved. It's a monumental moment in film history. It was the first feature length
cartoon movie to the point where it won honorary Oscars
and all of these amazing things that happened for that film are the reason that you and I really
get to sit here today because it made Disney what it is. So of course there's this
pressure of being the first one, having to bring to life the first one and obviously that's come
with a lot of pressure that I've put on myself and also, I mean, much like Hunger Games, there's just a very
dedicated group of people - Fans, yeah.
who love Disney cartoons. I'm one of them. I love everything that the
Disney company has put out in the past million years,
100 years this year. - 100, that's crazy. - How do you put little
baby Rachel at ease with what you're doing in your career? How is it that you come to this role and make little Rachel proud? And that was really what
I used to fuel my emotion on that set and who I was because all the pictures
are out there of little me in my Snow White gown-
- Yeah, I saw it. That's why it's gonna make me cry. - No, stop, because you'll make me cry. - No, don't start please. - [Rachel] No, no.
- I saw on Twitter, you had posted it was the
sweetest picture of you in the Snow White costume. And it's like, oh my God, I'm so annoying. I'm sorry.
- No, no, I'm the same way. It's fine. (Halle laughs)
(Rachel laughs) Sorry, Variety.
(Rachel laughs) - No, yeah, sorry, sorry, okay. But it was the sweetest picture
and you just are so sweet and little and filled with so
much joy and the biggest smile on your face and it's like,
that little girl is still in you and she's so proud of you. - Yeah, she wouldn't believe, truly. - That's so amazing. - I mean, talk about
counting your blessings and thanking whatever it
is that brought me here. Yeah, and obviously for my
community, it's a huge moment and I hope that it's
not one of those moments that we hear about in
the news where it's like, oh, the first in amount of
years, it's the first... I don't want it to be one of those where this is 25 years from now, it's the next Latina
playing a Disney princess. I want it to be this revolving door and not just I opened one door and one person walked through. And I'm sure you feel the same way. And it's also like you just wanna do right by your community so badly and I know that Snow White
is a huge moment for them as is The Hunger Games,
just as The Color Purple. When Steven Spielberg
made the first movie, when LaChanze brought
the musical to Broadway, Fantasia was on Broadway with the musical, Cynthia Erivo did it on Broadway and now your new cast being there, it's such a incredible story to be told. - I'll come visit you when I
can, even if we have to part, you and me, us have one heart.
- Us have one heart. - On the subject of Disney, one of the most iconic I want songs which almost didn't even make it into the original cartoon, "Part of Your World".
- Yes. ♪ Up where they walk ♪ ♪ Up where they run ♪ ♪ Up where they stay all day in the sun ♪ - So you have to sing that.
(Halle laughs) Seriously, you're Halle Bailey
and you're sitting there and you're like, I have to
sing this iconic Disney song. Recording it, shooting it,
what's going through your head and when you got to
watch it fully rendered because obviously there was a lot of CG involved,
- Yes. what is the thought process, go. (Rachel laughs)
- Ooh! So "Part of Your World",
that sequence was a really, really hard three days
of fake swimming around. So I was harnessed in the air on wires and then in the tuning fork and having to do all these stunts as well as mouth the emotion
and sing, it was just a lot. I was so overstimulated.
- Yeah, yeah, yeah. I'm like, what is going on? But of course, the little
girl in me was so excited to sing that song because
I mean, I love that song, we all love that song.
- We all love that song. Jodi Benson freaking killed that song. It's like your go-to karaoke song. - [Rachel] Truly. - I remember feeling like this weight of, okay, I have to do a good
job, vocally, I have to because I have to make Jodi Benson proud and the rest of the people
that have fallen in love with the song as well. So I was grateful that I had freedom to switch it a little bit and
do certain riffs and things and try not to get stuck in
this mold of trying to be a copy 'cause you know I could never be a copy of Jodi Benson's work.
- No. So I literally just had
to be free in that way with the recording of it. So the recording was fun.
(Rachel laughs) And then when I actually
got on set to film it, that was when I was like, oh
my gosh, 'cause I had to swim and do all these things, but
there's such a desperate plea and a cry for help that
she has in that song and the melodies of the
song are almost really happy a little bit, and it feels
happier than it sounds lyrically. So when I really went
into studying the lyrics, I just felt so bad for her and I felt that she had this yearning and she really felt
like she didn't belong. So just trying to channel
all those emotions and stuff while having to swim around
in circles and everything, it was a lot. I remember I broke down crying three times at the ending crescendo. It's this one scene
where I threw myself back and swim into the tunnel.
- Yeah. And every moment, I would burst out crying and Rob Marshall is so wonderful. He's like, "Yeah, that's what we want." "It's okay," 'cause I
was getting overwhelmed that I was getting so emotional. But it was a beautiful, beautiful time. And so the Snow White fan in me, I am so curious about the music. I mean, I don't know what
you can and can't say since it's not out yet,
but how was that experience getting to sing those songs? First of all, nobody
could've done it better 'cause your voice,
you're just a powerhouse. - Oh, thank you. - So I just can't wait to hear it. After hearing The Hunger Games
songs, I'm like, oh my gosh, she's gonna fricking blow it out the water for this Snow White. So how was that? - I mean, intense. Just like you said, it's like, oh God, this is an iconic thing that people really care about. I don't wanna mess this up
for anybody, including myself. Obviously, the writers and
Mark Webb, our director and our entire producing team, it's a bit different story-wise and so we were able to do
"Whistle While You Work", which made me really happy and excited. And I was honestly just
really nervous more about the technical element because obviously that
first look image went out and there is a lot of CGI in the film. Most of that day was spent
with singing to nothing, which I'm sure you also
know how that can be because there was a lot of
puppetry and then CGI in post. And so it was really intense
and there's a lot of bloopers of me tossing a broom and then
letting it fall to the ground because that's apparently
how you pass things off to CGI characters.
(Halle laughs) - Yeah.
- But it's so much fun. It goes back down to the root of why these movies were so successful when they came out is
because they captured the human emotions so well and the things that make us joyful and also the things that make us cry. They're able to tug on
those heart strings so well. They're very good at what they do which is why they've been
around for 100 years, but I remember when I
worked with Steven Sondheim on West Side Story. We were talking about the concept of an I want song because Maria in West Side Story
doesn't really have one. The I want song is because
you are bereft of something, it is painful. You go to the crux of all of the most iconic I
want songs in musicals. I want adventure in the
great white somewhere, I wanna be where the people are. You have "The Wizard and I"
from Wicked, which is like I want people to treat
me like a normal person. - Yes.
It really goes down to that. So it makes perfect sense to me that you would burst into tears at that. She wants something that she doesn't have. And that is from a child's perspective the most heartbreaking thing
is not having the thing that you want. And then it travels into adulthood, too. So I mean, I was saying to my boyfriend when I saw Little Mermaid that
if you could give an award for most expressive eyes in
Hollywood, it would go to you (Halle laughs)
(Rachel laughs) because you have to spend a lot of that movie not saying a thing. (Halle laughs)
- Yeah. - And you see everything
that you're trying to say. - Really, thank you. - Oh, I mean it so wholeheartedly. I also mean it about your counterpart in it, Jonah's amazing. - [Halle] He's killing it. - He's so beautiful and the two of you are
so beautiful together in that movie. From the standpoint of you
don't get to talk too much but you have to still show
obviously you were given songs that you have to sing, which
is fantastic, but is that hard? That's gotta be hard-
- [Halle] Yeah, that'll be really hard 'cause I got caught up in thinking like, oh no, I hope my brows
aren't freezing in one place - I get that, yeah, yeah, yeah- while I'm trying to evoke
emotion, but yeah, I really... I had to try to put fake lines in my head of what I would say in between people 'cause it's too hard to just be like... (Halle laughs) - Yeah, 'cause you're not a cartoon in real life.
- I couldn't do it. - Yeah, it was hard. But what you were saying was so beautiful and it made me think of your because you have musical
theater background, don't you?
- Yeah, I do. So how is that playing into
all these massive films that you're doing now? Do you feel like it's helped you or... - I do, I particularly felt that way on The Hunger Games, funnily enough, which is the least musical
theater movie you can do, but obviously the singing
aspect in it is very helpful. And I'm a country singer in that movie and I'm not in real life, at all. I'm from New York, it's just not in me. So having the 10 years of vocal training that I've had is definitely very helpful because even when I
didn't think I needed it, my vocal coach Joan Lader
taught me how to use a lilt when you're singing, how to yodel, where you can sing in an aspirated
way and have it come down into a chest voice and
all of those things, where your larynx is positioned. It all came into play
in such a beautiful way in this film that you'd
think she planned it for me as some kind of exercise. (Rachel laughs)
- [Halle] Wow. - Truly, 'cause on "The Hanging Tree", there's a lot of yodel in
that, in a song that I sing in the arena when I've
won the hunger games. ♪ When I've conquered
my fears right here ♪ ♪ In the old there before ♪ - Oh my gosh, I had
chills all over my body watching you sing that song with the snakes coming up your arms and everything.
- Thank you. Were they real snakes, they looked real, how did you do that, what happened? - They did look real and I was
really impressed watching it 'cause you see them wrap
around the fabric of my dress and it looks very real.
- So real. They were not. Those weren't, but I did have
two real snakes in the movie, the one that stuffed down the
girl's dress in the beginning. - [Halle] Yes, oh fire, that was iconic. - Yeah, that was actually
like a slight of hand trick 'cause during the shooting
process, I really learned how to deal with snakes and
you don't ever go... If this was his head,
you never go like this. You're not supposed to do
that 'cause that scares them 'cause they can only see
from the side of their heads. So if you do this, they get
scared and they'll bite you. You don't wanna do that. (Halle laughs)
(Rachel laughs) They wanted me to put
this snake in my pocket and I was like, I'm not doing that because I don't wanna scare the snake and also I don't want it to bite me- - Yeah.
(Halle laughs) - Really, the first shot
you see of me is of the back of my head and then I walk into
the center and walk upstage. And I just had it sitting here. And then while the camera went
up to my head, I passed it to this hand and made it
look like it was coming out of my pocket and then stuffed it down this lovely Isobel Jesper Jones' back who gives the most incredible
horror movie scream that you've ever heard in your life. But yeah, not real snakes in that snakes. - Wow, well, you would never know. - It was really hard
to pretend that it was because she's supposed
to be kind of terrified, wondering why they're not biting her. She doesn't know what's going on really and her one instinct is
to sing and pray basically that this is all gonna be okay for her. And that was one of my first days on set. - Really?
That was probably my sixth or seventh.
- Oh my gosh. - 'Cause we filmed the
games in succession, we did all of the games first because we only had that location for an allotment of days. And so that was certainly
an intense one for me. - That was a lot of stunt work. You were falling. I was like, is she okay? The rubble falling everywhere. - That was styrofoam rubble, thank God. - Oh wow, it looked so real. - But it was all in heels and all real. I did 95% of my own stunts. Jessup! (fighters grunting) I do wanna say wire work is hard. - Yeah, it hurts- - I was watching your Instagram videos. You make that look so graceful - Thank you.
in a way... I had to do some stuff for
Snow White, not 13 hours of pretending that I'm swimming around. When you are doing that,
first of all, painful. - Yeah, it hurts.
- It hurts. - As a girl, it's like
all up in your business. - It is. - You're literally being held
up by there, it's like, ow! - When you watch it come
to fruition fully rendered under the sea, are you
like that wasn't there? - Yeah, that was so weird to
see, really amazing of course because I'm like, how did we go from... Well, first of all, I looked
like an alien most of the time when we were filming
'cause I had on the VFX cap and they tried to fit all my
hair under, so I'm like this. And then I had on the
leotard and everything, but it's crazy looking at how
did we go from this to this? It's insane how they did it. - It's an art form in
itself, I do believe that. The VFX artists on Disney
projects are next level. - And I can't believe
those snakes look so real. You would react, I love that. I think that was my favorite
part of the whole movie. - Thank you, thank you.
- [Halle] Yeah, for sure. - I'm so thankful. (Halle laughs)
That one was hard. And then they had when they
played it for everybody in the academy to react to the ending, they were actually playing
it for the students to watch, I was mortified.
- Why? - And they came in to
get COVID tested that day and I walked in, I could hear myself and then I see myself
staring down the camera looking so angry, I was like... I can't watch, I don't know how you are
- Yeah, it's hard. - I can't watch myself. Do you watch playback on set? - Nuh-uh.
- [Rachel] Me neither. - I try not to.
- [Rachel] No? - When it's pictures and stuff, I wanna see how I'm posing and stuff, - Of course.
but I just get so critical of my face, I'm like, I can't watch- - No, I'm the same way. I think Hunger Games is the first 'cause Francis never
made me watch playback, but I was so I don't wanna see that and very determined in not seeing it, so actually seeing the
film was a completely different experience that
I've ever had before. - You killed it, it was so amazing. - What a year you've had though. I'm so excited for everyone. It's like the Halle Bailey
takeover of the world, it's all going to plan. I feel like I planned this. (Halle laughs)
It's my plan. - That's so sweet, as are Rachel, hello. - No, no.
- Oh my gosh, literally. - I'm gonna get a t-shirt of your face. (Halle laughs) - Should we both get one
of each other's faces? Let's do it. - Yeah, merry Christmas, Halle. (Halle laughs)
(Rachel laughs) (upbeat music) (upbeat music) (upbeat music)
