Actress Melissa McCarthy looked to her origins performing in New York City under the drag name Miss Y as her inspiration for her Ursula on ‘The Little Mermaid’. “There’s a drag queen that lives in me,” McCarthy told EW in an interview.
“I’m always right on the verge of going full-time with hera To keep the humour and the sadness and the edginess to Ursula is everything I want in a character – and frankly, everything I want in a drag queen.”
Alan Menken confirmed to the publication that the animated character was inspired by drag queen Divine.
McCarthy also described her character in a unique way saying: “She’s the villain, but there’s such an edge to her. She’s been put in this lair. It’s like she’s had too many martinis alone. Her friends are eels. That is a woman who has seen it, been in it, dug her way back out. All my references are terrible, but I kept thinking, ‘Many a Pall Mall has this woman had.'”
‘The Little Mermaid’ hits theatres on May 26, and is directed by Rob Marshall with a screenplay by David Magee.
McCarthy shares the big screen with Halle Bailey, who plays Ariel, and Jonah Hauer-King, who portrays Prince Eric. The cast also includes Javier Bardem as King Triton, along with Daveed Diggs, Awkwafina, Jacob Tremblay and Noma Dumezweni, among others.
