7 Aug – Melissa McCarthy only has good things to say about Queen Latifah's casting as the purple villain (no, not Thanos) in the small screen adaptation of "The Little Mermaid". News broke earlier today that the rapper is set to portray Ursula in ABC's live-action musical, "Little Mermaid Live!". This prompted Variety, who met McCarthy at the premiere of "The Kitchen" at TCL Chinese Theatre, to ask the actress if this means there's a chance she would be doing a duet with Queen Latifah, as big screen Ursula and small screen Ursula.
Now, it's been reported for a while that McCarthy might be playing the evil sea witch in Disney's live-action take on its 1989 animated classic, but this has never been confirmed. The actress would play it coy whenever the topic came up. It was no different this time as McCarthy laughed it off with a ""What do you meaaaaan; I don't know", while praising Queen Latifah as someone who "can do anything". "I'll be like (raises hands) both hands on chin watching her," said the actress.
Queen Latifah's casting is a no-brainer, really. Longtime Disney fans would remember that back in 2011, the rapper portrayed Ursula in Disney Dream Portrait Series' version of "The Little Mermaid" for that year. She joins "Moana" voice actress Auli'i Cravalho, who will play the title character, and singer Shaggy, who will voice Sebastian, in the small screen musical that is set to air this November. As for the big screen live-action "The Little Mermaid", so far the only confirmed cast is Halle Bailey, whose casting as the redheaded mermaid did cause quite a stir. Other stars that are reportedly in talks to join the cast include Harry Styles as Prince Eric, Jacob Tremblay as Flounder the fish and Awkwafina as Scuttle the seagull. The casting team will have to wrap it up soon since the movie is expected to begin filming in early 2020. (Photo source: Jeff Kravitz/FilmMagic | Frazer Harrison/Getty Images)