Darkly humorous, sultry, evil and seductive – four reasonable adjectives to describe Ursula from Disney‘s The Little Mermaid; but never mind that, according to Variety, Melissa McCarthy is currently in negotiations to play the villain in the upcoming Little Mermaid live action adaptation.
But there’s something to be said for unusual castings (The Dark Knight will forever be an object lesson on the subject, in my opinion) and if this deal goes through it will be interesting to see exactly what it is that Disney has seen in McCarthy that could sell the iconic character.
This is of course not the first time that Disney’s run this particular and inevitable gauntlet; this year’s Aladdin had a similar hurdle in attempting to replace the funniest guy in the world. In a sideways compromise, they hired the friendliest guy in the world and given the box office numbers it seems their faith was not completely misplaced.
Rob Marshall (Mary Poppins Returns) will be directing the film which will incorporate original songs from the 1989 animated hit as well as all new pieces from Alan Menken and Lin-Manuel Miranda. Miranda is also producing the film along with Marshall, Marc Platt and John DeLuca; David Magee (Life of Pi, Mary Poppins Returns) has penned the script.
What do you guys think of this news? Is there a chance that McCarthy is the right actress to bring Ursula into the live-action world?
Who would you cast in Disney’s Little Mermaid remake? Let us know your thoughts in the comments section below!