Melissa McCarthy Just Wants to Have a Drink With Ursula from 'The Little Mermaid'

Move over, Barbie, because there's another blockbuster film promising to deliver widespread nostalgia this summer. On Wednesday, Walt Disney Studios released new The Little Mermaid character posters, including one of Melissa McCarthy, who will play the villainous Ursula. In a recent interview with People, McCarthy admitted that she begged the live action remake's director, Rob Marshall, to be cast as the underwater octo-woman.

"I threw myself in front of [his] car and begged him. I didn't really, but I did beg him to talk to me. That part's true," she said. "I've spent more time with Little Mermaid than probably any other movie, which I didn't really think about until Rob's like, 'Did you see this a few times?' I'm like, 'Well, [now that] you ask me, I've seen it a weird amount of times. Which could have frightened him. Luckily it didn't."

McCarthy explains that when she was in her early 20s, she nannied for a family who was obsessed with watching the original version of the Disney classic. "The girls could watch a little bit of TV and pick a movie. And I swear there was a two-year jag where we watched Little Mermaid every night," she recalled. "Even if they did want a different one, I was like, 'Or we could just watch The Little Mermaid again.'"

The comedian and actress's passion for the character really came from a place of empathy. "I loved her so much. She's such a broad, I just wanted to have a drink with her," she said before adding that she relates to Ursula even more after COVID. "And yes, she's the villain, but I was like, I think I get her. She's been ostracized. Especially after COVID, I think we all get Ursula a little bit more. Spending all that time alone. I just thought she was funny. And I love that it was about this young woman who was just trying to figure out what she wanted."

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