Film

The Live-Action ‘Little Mermaid’ May Have Found Its Ursula, And Fans Aren’t Happy

by Amanda Yeo  30 June 2019
The Little Mermaid Ursula

Want more Junkee in your life? Sign up to our newsletter, and follow us on Instagram, Twitter and Facebook so you always know where to find us.

Disney’s live-action adaptation of The Little Mermaid is currently under development, and this week we got our first hint at who might step into Ursula’s tentacles. Unfortunately, fans are less than enthusiastic about the choice.

Related
'Hamilton' Creator Lin-Manuel Miranda Is Doing The Music For A Live-Action 'Little Mermaid' Film

Variety reports that actress Melissa McCarthy is in early talks to play The Little Mermaid‘s sea witch in the live-action adaptation of Disney’s 1989 cartoon.

McCarthy is best known for adult-focused comedies, though she recently pivoted to more serious drama in last year’s biographical film Can You Ever Forgive Me?

Her performance was nominated for both an Academy Award and Golden Globe, and won her this year’s Razzie Redeemer Award.

However, though McCarthy may have years of acting experience, Little Mermaid fans are understandably sceptical of McCarthy’s suitability to play the bombastic tentacle monster.

Many have pointed to the original inspiration for Ursula as guidance for the direction they would have liked the casting to go. Though she was voiced by Pat Carroll, Ursula’s design was based on drag queen Divine, who sadly died a year before The Little Mermaid was released.

They feel that casting another drag queen, or at least someone who has delivered theatrical gravitas of the same type as Divine, would be a much better fit.

Fans are also putting forward their preferred picks for Ursula. Popular names being thrown about include former RuPaul’s Drag Race contestant Ginger Minj, Unbreakable Kimmy Schmidt‘s Tituss Burgess and ‘Juice’ singer Lizzo, each of whom have previously performed Ursula’s villain song ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’.

Lizzo herself has expressed an eagerness to take on the role as well. Last November, she posted a video to Twitter of her singing ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’ while dressed as Ursula, in an apparent announcement of her candidacy for sea witch. Yesterday she shared the video again, accompanied only by a pleading emoji.

McCarthy hasn’t been locked in yet, but she isn’t as strange a choice as she initially appears. Though she isn’t known as a singer, she previously showed off some vocal ability in a duet with Barbra Streisand, performing ‘Anything You Can Do’ on Streisand’s 2016 album Encore: Movie Partners Sing Broadway.

“I don’t think I’m delusional enough to think I’ll do my own albums or musical career,” said McCarthy at the time, stating that she was simply enjoying the opportunity to sing alongside Streisand. To be fair, one musical movie hardly makes a musical career.

Though response to McCarthy’s potential casting has been largely negative, a small number of people remain hopefully optimistic that she’ll nail it. Still, she’ll really have to go all out to have any hope of measuring up to The Divine Miss Divine.