As The Little Mermaid’s Ursula says, “Life’s full of tough choices, innit?” Well, Disney appears to have one less difficult decision to make for the upcoming live-action movie.
The House of Mouse has reportedly tapped Melissa McCarthy to play the iconic villain, Ursula, in the new adaptation, according to Variety. McCarthy’s deal has yet to be completed, but the formal announcement is expected soon.
If McCarthy is in fact set to star in the updated Little Mermaid, she’ll have to start warming up her vocal cords. Thus far in her career, she’s sang along to Kelis’s “Milkshake” in Identity Thief and performed a very random “Anything You Can Do” duet with Barbra Streisand. Her musical moment with Streisand proved she definitely has what it takes to belt out “Poor Unfortunate Souls” like the OG Ursula.
Disney is in the process of casting the film, so who’s officially playing each character has yet to be revealed. We do know, however, that Mary Poppins Returns director Rob Marshall will helm the film, which will incorporate classic songs from the animated original as well as new tunes from Lin-Manuel Miranda (Hamilton) and Alan Menken (he wrote the music for the 1989 film). Miranda, Marshall, Marc Platt (La La Land) and John Deluca (Into the Woods) are also set to executive produce the Disney flick. Mary Poppins Returns and Life of Pi scribe David Magnee penned the much-anticipated script.
