Actress Melissa McCarthy admits she embraced her inner drag queen to inspire her role as Ursula in “The Little Mermaid.”
It seems like luck that the “Nine Perfect Strangers” actress landed the role, as she once dressed as Divine, a popular drag queen, for a photo shoot with Entertainment Weekly in 2011.
Composer Alan Menken, who returned to write new music for the live-action adaptation after scoring the original, admitted that he actually used Divine as inspiration for the character of Ursula.
Melissa McCarthy Embraces Her Inner Drag Queen To Play Ursula In ‘The Little Mermaid’
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Many fans who watched the animated “The Little Mermaid” already know that Ursula, the sister of King Triton, is widely considered the “scapegoat” of the family, at least according to producer John DeLuca.
“He was put into this lair. It’s like he’s had too many martinis by himself. His friends are eels,” McCarthy told Entertainment Weekly. “That’s a woman who has seen it, been in it, dug her way back out. All my references were terrible, but I kept thinking, ‘This woman has a lot of Pall Mall.’”
Believe it or not, “The Heat” actress actually started her career in drag. Her drag persona was known as “Miss Y” and she used to perform around Manhattan Clubs during the height of her career.
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“I’m a big fan of drag shows and the whole art of it and the entertainment,” McCarthy said. “I’ve been going to shows since I shouldn’t have been going to shows. There’s a drag queen living in me. I was always on the verge of going full time with him.”
Director Rob Marshall said that McCarthy was more than forthcoming about his past in the hurdles during one of their first meetings. “I sat down with him for a meeting, and the first thing he said to me, he said, ‘You know my career started in the hurdles,'” he said. “And I said, ‘What do you mean?’ He said, ‘Well, I have a character that I play and I’m part of a drag show. That’s where I started before I got into comedy and acting.’”
McCarthy has called Ursula “everything I want in a character,” adding, “To keep the humor and sadness and angst to Ursula is everything I want in a character — and frankly, everything I want in a drag queen.”
McCarthy Begs Director Rob Marshall To Cast Ursula: ‘I Can Bring A Snack!’
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Although the 52-year-old actress isn’t the best singer and admitted that it was the one thing that “scared me the most” about her new role, she admitted that she started to feel more confident when she stopped “trying to sing. pretty and just sing in character.”
If anything, McCarthy recalls actually asking Marshall for the role when he found out they were casting. “I was really like, ‘Please, please, please! I’ll bring a craft service. I make a great chicken salad, hummus. I can bring snacks,'” McCarthy recalled.
“I don’t know what madness went through my head, because I’m not known as a singer, but I’ve always been so strangely in love with Ursula that I thought I could try and lose, but if I didn’t at least try, I’d regret it forever ,” he added.
Marshall called her performance “amazing,” adding, “”I have to say, when you see her in this, you won’t believe it because it’s unlike anything she’s ever done. So amazing. Of course he’s funny and wild, but there’s a depth to what he does as an actor.”
Lin-Manuel Miranda Tells Fans Melissa McCarthy Brings ‘Camp’ To ‘Poor Unfortunate Souls’
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Along with her rendition of “Poor Unfortunate Souls,” which featured a few lyrical changes from the original, McCarthy admitted that she enjoyed playing with the depth of Ursula’s isolation.
“Something I find really fun is, which lines – whether speaking or singing – is Ursula just mumbling to herself?” McCarthy asked. “He’s been isolated for a long time, so it’s fun to play around with which one is he talking to his friends, which one is he arguing with himself, and then which one is actually being outspoken to Ariel? The concept suddenly seemed like a lot of fun.”
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Although composer Lin-Manuel Miranda has widely praised Halle Bailey’s musical performance as Ariel, he admits, “No one is ready for Melissa McCarthy,” adding, “She brings all the delicious camp of the original, but then it’s also terrifying. If that’s your favorite song, you’ll be happy.”
“The Little Mermaid” opens in theaters on May 26.
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Source: thtrangdai.edu.vn/en/
